Tea, Fire and Boredom
Social Control
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?”
I often rail against how dumb and obedient and useless “people” are. And in there lies the potential for cognitive dissonance. Because if I truly held disdain for every single person, I might as well go back into my cave and pine away with nobody else for the next 50-80 years (hopefully). In such a case, there would be no hope for humanity and really no worth in trying.
The fact of the matter is that I rather like individual people. In its usage, “people” is kind of a large, homogenous, undefined mass of humanoid figures, metaphors and ideas. It is something I have to carefully explain to friends when I talk to them, as they often assume that I hate their guts and do conversations to humor them. The confusion of usage between “people” and “individuals” is an unfortunate ambiguity of our language. I love talking and doing stuff with individuals. They have the potential to be unique and nuanced and truly a refreshing encounter. The biggest problem I find with “people” is not so much that the individuals comprising them are bad or stupid, but that “people” exert very strong control of thought. They are told what to think, how to act, what is acceptable and what questions you aren’t supposed to ask. This is by no means a comprehensive list. But the point is that these are attempts to control thought. And when you control thought, it is fairly easy to control action.
When I think about the extent to which information and ideas in the United States are controlled, it’s like pulling weeds. Everywhere I look, there are more weeds. And the more you dig, you find the weeds go far deeper than you ever imagined. Remember that almost all forms of mass media is founded upon advertisements. TV shows are just the entertaining parts between the ads, telling you that you NEED this handbag or tennis shoe. Radio and newspaper are almost always supported by corporate funding. This poses a problem. A radio station cannot have anti-business opinions if its purse strings are held by other businesses.
As a result, I don’t take very seriously any story that is in the media. For example, today the only story I could find on CNN.com was about swine flu is now in pandemic stage. Now, I understand that swine flu is an actual illness and people die, but it doesn’t need this much coverage. Honestly, nothing has really happened yet, except that the WHO changed the classification. When people start dieing in the streets, then maybe it’ll merit this many stories. But, if people get into a huge frenzy about swine flu, then drug companies can and will exploit this to help their bottom line. People are afraid, they demand the government buy drugs and suddenly their stock prices jump 50 points.
I like the Internet. It provides a way to communicate ideas, thoughts and to organize with relatively little influence by business interests. Compared to TV, it’s very easy to organize I group of like-minded individuals on a place like facebook. It’s easier to post your radical thoughts on a blog. However, I see this fading fast. If anyone has gone to Youtube lately, you can see that the user posted content is strongly deemphasized. Instead, they feature videos made by corporate groups. Instead of seeing keyboard cat, you’re more likely to see National Geographic video on making your room more environmentally friendly. It’s sad, but a common trend. The internet, in the end, is another advertising ground. To save it from the same controlled fate of radio, TV and newspapers, it’s up to us.
