Sadam Hussein’s vaunted weapons of mass destruction turned out to be a chimera and the cost in American, and especially Iraqi lives, has been hideous. We need to ask ourselves how we reached this point of zero empathy for those hurt by our way of life. Of course, I don’t want to be president. But I digress.
Iran, for its part, insists its uranium work is non-negotiable, now or ever. Look at us! We are not politicians. Everywhere it is becoming clearer how social, economic and political misery will endure for a long time yet. We stand on the far promontory of centuries of struggle. A new constitution needs writing. To put it bluntly, I’d say we are asleep at the screen.
In his new book, “Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership”, Warren Bennis, a management theorist, tells a story about Sigmund Freud’s flight from Vienna to London in 1938. In essence, the research suggests if you feel that you should be taking certain actions or that you are not living up to you true ideals, you will probably be a happier person if you take those actions and live up to those ideals. The big fashion these days is to focus on the supply side of innovation: for example, by encouraging everyone to think big thoughts. That is why we dream of nothing less than a global emancipation, a spiritual insurrection that sets this false world ablaze. After firefighters extinguish a blaze they usually look carefully for glowing embers before rolling up their hoses and heading off. This means that we have to publish our private opinions and interrogate our private lives as if they were on display.
Still a word of caution is in order. You can’t fight an enemy you can’t see. Instability afflicts the whole country. I tell you plainly that a dark, dangerous future lies ahead and that it is your duty to resist and to serve Islam and the Muslim peoples.
So, what did you think? What did the article make you think?
The text above is not in fact an article at all, but an amalgamation of around twenty different articles; the sentences are taken alternately from The Economist (28th Aug- 3rd Sep 2010) and Adbusters (Sep – Oct 2010). The articles used range in topic from the Pakistani floods to the Australian hung parliament, and back to Brazilian farming methods. The two publications have very different editorial directions. Adbusters is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist magazine of social activism, whereas The Economist’s principles are rooted in free trade and globalisation. However, the link they share as ‘forward thinking’ intellectual publications brings out a striking similarity in some of the language that is used.
The rhetoric that is printed every day to argue for a diverse range of ideals can all too easily merge into one long rant. If we are not careful that rant – which we see throughout our lives as a constant stream of media produced information and comment – can rustle up some semi-formed, subconscious thoughts in our unsuspecting heads.
The next time you skim through a magazine, reading one or two sentences of each article, remember what you have just read and beware of the subliminal messages that are inevitably seeping in.
Ed Thornton
(thanks to my brother who collaborated on this piece)
But the 'random' assortment of sentences were picked by you (and your brother); the sample must subliminally reflect your own biases (and to some extent the dictates of grammar). So, to use a pretentious metaphor: when one is standing in the media waterfall, the shape of the individual's body still affects the flow of the water. We have prejudices external from other media that condition the reception of information.
ReplyDeleteThis is true, Tom. But doing it was really fun.
ReplyDeleteYes, an individual's own biases will affect which sentences and ideas stick in his brain, but that does not affect the fact that some sentences and ideas have found their way in there at all. Two different people showering in our Niagra-of-news may affect the downpour in a different way but both will get soaked.
ReplyDeleteTo take a tangent - The scope of this metaphor is limitless: I think Big Brother contestants are akin to those who try to brave the waterfall in a barrel and invariably drown in the process. If only they were as entertaining.
Tom, you make a good point. Ed, perhaps this exercise in fact shows your ability to impose a convincing false narrative on a bunch of incoherent information. Some might say that's a key skill in any arts degree exams...
ReplyDelete