The Intellectual Death of America
- 11-26-2010
- Categorized in: Editorials
Dr. J. Alva Scruggs
GUEST COLUMNIST
America has become the victim of media control that substitutes soundbites of the ambitious for facts that makes mankind a progressive, evolving species. Using facts and observations to fuel the human mind for making valid decisions and conclusions has been corrupted by mass media, which has made convenient soundbites the resources for human and national growth and advancement.
The schools of sociology, psychology, propaganda, and public relations have become America’s source of information. These four bodies of knowledge are powerful and subject to abuse in the hands of the greedy and evil. These four subjects provide the tools to control the beliefs and actions of individuals, and in turn control the masses.
Requires more work
This would not be so bad if the mass media were free of the corruption brought by those who wish to control rather than educate the population. The process of reason – using facts – is much more labor and time-intensive than taking actions and making conclusions from the human qualities of fear and emotion. Therefore, politicians and capitalists that use the public for greedy and exploitive reasons choose fear and emotions to reach their ends.
Unfortunately, this has an extremely negative effect on the intellectual level of citizens that use the media for their primary source of information. It is easier to make a decision from the phase, "If it don’t fit, then you must acquit," than to have the information that backs up the decision provided. It is easy for the pharmaceuticals and their PR people to use the fear and emotion of proposing that a healthcare bill creates "death panels for old people," than for the president to provide the details and facts of the bill to Americans.
It was easier for President Bush to use the fear of "weapons of mass destruction" to get Americans to invade Iraq than to try to explain any other reason for this preemptive strike on a sovereign nation!
‘Intellectual stupidity’
In the 2010 midterm election, the Republicans and their conservative supporters bundled together several existing conditions of Americans as they said, "unemployment, Obamacare, raising taxes, out-of-control federal spending. Do you need more of this from Democrats?’ The condition of unemployment was obvious to every one, but the reasons were not so clear and easy to determine. Therefore, in putting the easy subject in the same slogan with other more difficult things, the Democrats were voted out by Americans that did not vote in their best interest.
Alas, Americans are known to vote and otherwise support things that are not in their best interests. This is noted in the many articles that claim American society have become stuck at the intellectual level of stupidity.
Fallen behind
The real tragedy is that America has fallen behind other nations in historical leadership in education and production of ideas and goods. Politicians and exploiters have used fear and emotion and substituted the word "common sense" to make those who are not educationally achieved feel comfortable with their condition. Politicians regularly use a "common sense" stand as they say things that clearly have little foundation in fact.
We can no longer allow our so-called political leaders to deliberately use misinformation and lies to get citizens to vote on issues of paramount importance. These politicians are resetting the body of knowledge even in our higher education, and contaminating the history of events and information enough to make human progress impossible.
Dr. J. Alva Scruggs is a Tallahassee resident, author, and commentator. Contact him via http://franklyspeaking.info.
T
GUEST COLUMNIST
America has become the victim of media control that substitutes soundbites of the ambitious for facts that makes mankind a progressive, evolving species. Using facts and observations to fuel the human mind for making valid decisions and conclusions has been corrupted by mass media, which has made convenient soundbites the resources for human and national growth and advancement.
The schools of sociology, psychology, propaganda, and public relations have become America’s source of information. These four bodies of knowledge are powerful and subject to abuse in the hands of the greedy and evil. These four subjects provide the tools to control the beliefs and actions of individuals, and in turn control the masses.
Requires more work
This would not be so bad if the mass media were free of the corruption brought by those who wish to control rather than educate the population. The process of reason – using facts – is much more labor and time-intensive than taking actions and making conclusions from the human qualities of fear and emotion. Therefore, politicians and capitalists that use the public for greedy and exploitive reasons choose fear and emotions to reach their ends.
Unfortunately, this has an extremely negative effect on the intellectual level of citizens that use the media for their primary source of information. It is easier to make a decision from the phase, "If it don’t fit, then you must acquit," than to have the information that backs up the decision provided. It is easy for the pharmaceuticals and their PR people to use the fear and emotion of proposing that a healthcare bill creates "death panels for old people," than for the president to provide the details and facts of the bill to Americans.
It was easier for President Bush to use the fear of "weapons of mass destruction" to get Americans to invade Iraq than to try to explain any other reason for this preemptive strike on a sovereign nation!
‘Intellectual stupidity’
In the 2010 midterm election, the Republicans and their conservative supporters bundled together several existing conditions of Americans as they said, "unemployment, Obamacare, raising taxes, out-of-control federal spending. Do you need more of this from Democrats?’ The condition of unemployment was obvious to every one, but the reasons were not so clear and easy to determine. Therefore, in putting the easy subject in the same slogan with other more difficult things, the Democrats were voted out by Americans that did not vote in their best interest.
Alas, Americans are known to vote and otherwise support things that are not in their best interests. This is noted in the many articles that claim American society have become stuck at the intellectual level of stupidity.
Fallen behind
The real tragedy is that America has fallen behind other nations in historical leadership in education and production of ideas and goods. Politicians and exploiters have used fear and emotion and substituted the word "common sense" to make those who are not educationally achieved feel comfortable with their condition. Politicians regularly use a "common sense" stand as they say things that clearly have little foundation in fact.
We can no longer allow our so-called political leaders to deliberately use misinformation and lies to get citizens to vote on issues of paramount importance. These politicians are resetting the body of knowledge even in our higher education, and contaminating the history of events and information enough to make human progress impossible.
Dr. J. Alva Scruggs is a Tallahassee resident, author, and commentator. Contact him via http://franklyspeaking.info.
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