At the George Orwell Comes To America: There You Go Again Conference of Nov. 7, 2007 (see via http://www.infinitysociety.org/GOMS) you asked the question; ‘how can it be that Americans, who pride themselves in being independent minded and weary of dictatorship, are so susceptible to propaganda?’
I tried to answer your question in person, but your personal assistant and others dragged you away, supposedly because of your typically hectic schedule that day.
Anyway, what I write here may not suffice in answering your question(s) concerning the way Americans think and perceive the world today, and so I am more than open to having an ongoing, at your convenience, discussion and dialogue with you.
I tried to explain to you that Americans today, more so than ever, do not see real reality at all (but simply see what they think is most convenient) because they have no concept of Cumulative or Aggregate Effect of things, also known as Mass Phenomena Effect; in other words they do not see how what may seem relatively harmless when done by just one person, or only a few people, may actually be very harmful when done by many people, or even when attempted to be done by most people! I have thought about this contemporary American modality of selfish thought or family-centric, peer-centric, ethno-centric thought for many years now, and not only have I found proof of the veracity of my initial observations and impressions, but I have also found an effective antidote (a method that if sufficiently applied can undo this damaging tendency to selfish centric thinking) ! More on that shortly.
Actually, there are many classical examples of this Failure to Perceive/Understand Cumulative/Aggregate Effect, or M.P.E. (Mass Phenomena Effect), especially in the way most Americans and even many Americanized Europeans and others think! Here are some of the most common examples (mind you, what would seem to apply only or mainly to Americans also applies elsewhere to various degree/extents):
1. An average American cannot make it on their current income, especially if they are working at a menial job or at a job in a field that used to pay reasonable wages, and so seeks to make enough and more money by means of joining in on the incredible opportunities of Real Estate investment/transactions/brokerage etc…. So she or he orders, at a marginal cost, one of those many ‘qet rich relatively quick and easy’ real estate investment schemes’ packages. And, while most will find out it is not that easy and there are significant risks, some will actually make a marginal profit from their efforts. The problem is that when tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people attempt to do the same thing and start exploiting weaknesses in the housing markets they inadvertently cause the overall cost of housing to rise so high that affordable housing seizes to exist, and thus they put viable home ownership (through mortgaging and other financing) beyond the reach of the very people in society who most need such housing and whose lives depend on it!
2. Most Americans do not understand how and why it does matter how American-owned or –based companies can actually cause serious (even massive lives-threatening) harm or exacerbate pre-existing circumstances which give rise to anti-American sentiments, including extreme hatred and willingness to harm all Americans (in of itself an example of the non-American’s failure to see, perceive/understand Cumulative/Aggregate Effect and how many average Americans are just as much victims of such unethical corporations, etc.). It is very typical of Americans to think that just because they may partake, as investors, employees or even Board Executives, in financially benefiting from the sometimes unethical transactions of said company, they do not feel any responsibility or blame for every single unethical practice, mistake or incorrect act done by another person directly associated and involved in the affairs and practices of said company!
3. Even though there is some progress in the attitudes of most Americans concerning the need for environmentally sound policies and individual (personal and family) acts of conservation and recycling, still most Americans (something true throughout the world) do not understand the massive cumulative effect of each and every person throwing trash off the roads, failing to recycle artificial products, etc…
4. Americans, as community, village, town and city folk, passing laws that may seem good and healthy, but which further limit the rights of truly mature individuals, i.e. legal adults, to exercise their freedoms, to live their lives as they chose. Most Americans jump on the bandwagon of prevailing attitudes, especially concerning what they consider to be morally and ethically correct behavior, and do not consider the cumulative/aggregate negative impact of their excessively restrictive ordinances, laws, etc… Such harm as excessively restricting and limiting the lives of those adults who are ‘members’ of the GLBT ‘community’, or adults who do not intend to have children and do not intend to create typical atomic family-units, or adults who are not yet ready to make certain commitments and who unintentionally have to contend with unexpected, unplanned and unwanted pregnancies! And we are not talking about mentally sick people who, as adult-aged persons, harm minors! There are obvious laws and non-legally-enforced normatives that must apply and be sufficiently adhered to in order to protect the rights of children, minors and responsible parents concerned about the psychological and physical safety of their children! Nevertheless, Americans fail to see, to envisage, to prognosticate, perceive/understand how some laws can actually do more harm than any good, and how certain laws are actually in violation of the very core principles implied and stated in The Constitution, how many laws are actually unnecessary at best and can be exploited for dangerous, anti-democratic (Closed Society) interests! Such as attempts to reverse Roe vs. Wade, prohibiting adults-only alternative activities/lifestyles that otherwise allow adults to release stress and enjoy the remainder of their natural lives, Capital Punishment (which is a dangerous and effective way to intimidate political opponents, frame otherwise totally innocent persons, and impose narrow, non-democratic, political agendas) or laws that criminalize mere possession of substances which can easily be used to frame people and to deny citizens their true Constitutional Rights, such as the right to privacy and to be safe in one’s own private home, attempts at negating the fundamental democratic need for Separation of Dogma ( Religion, Ideology ) and State-Craft (i.e. Government, Democratic Politics) etc…
And you, George Soros, emphasized the issue of Americans falling for cheap propaganda stunts.
All these serious problems, threats and dangers to individual and group freedoms/liberties would begin to disappear and diminish into relative irrelevance were Americans able to think in way that is constantly conscious of Cumulative/Aggregate Effect or M.P.E..
And this is where my own philosophical and socio-psychological method comes into play (as the primary, albeit not the only, solution).
Here’s how it works:
1. Fact: people perceive or deliberately misperceive the world, universe, reality, things according to their overall general perception of the world, universe, reality and things, such that people whose overall preconception (conviction) of the world, universe, reality and things is that of limitation, impossibilities and the FINITE, tend to have a limited, i.e. FINITE perception of things and events and tend not to see the overall general connections, associations and interrelations! In effect, people who are FINITY-conscious are narrow-minded, short-term-oriented and shallow thinking! Those are the kind of people who easily fall for manipulative, cleverly devised, divide-and-conquer propaganda, who fail to understand/perceive cumulative/aggregate effects! In effect, they fall for those who would destroy democracy, The Constitution, and harm true human progress and real civilization (tolerance of tolerant others, cooperation, compromise, cautious pragmatism, etc.).
2. Since the central concept, or world view of relatively narrow-minded, short-term-oriented, shallow (superficial) thinking/minded people is that of limitation, impossibilities and the FINITE, it would follow that if we could apply some method by which we can stimulate, motivate, inspire, instigate those people to think about the opposite concepts/notions/central ideas, i.e. that of the unlimited, of possibilities and the INFINITE, then we can begin to reduce the number of people who easily fall for manipulative, cleverly devised, divide-and-conquer propaganda, who fail to understand/perceive cumulative/aggregate effects!
3. Thus, it would seem totally logical that we need to have a significant public awareness campaign, that seek to motivate, inspire, instigate people to think about the INFINITE and other deep and broad philosophical questions!
And I know just how we could do so!
Please let me know what you think.
Best,
Jean-Pierre Ady Fenyo, Philosopher
http://www.infinitysociety.org
The Original New York City Free Advice Man
http://www.infinitysociety.org/FREEADVICEMAN
Grandson of the Great Hungarian Jewish Intellectual Writer, Max Fenyo
http://www.infinitysociety.org/FENYOMIKSAMEMORIAL
* Most Americans are brought up as young children watching strongly appealing portrayals of unrealistic things, such as the violent cartoons in which no one seems to die or seriously suffer from their injuries (Road Runner, Willy Coyote, ScoobyDoo, etc...), violent wrestling, violent video games, etc... all quite intentionally created to psychologically dissociate the reality of real violence and its many horrors! (Supposedly this serves the interests of the M.I.C. in creating ever-newer generations of combat-ready/willing troops). There are some serious studies on this, if you care to ask certain Developmental Psychologists, Anthropologists, etc... The basic idea is this: 'out of sight out of mind'.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment