lost&outofcontrol Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 I know I said it would be my last post in the tory-crime bill thread but I just couldn't help myself. My rant based on George Ritzer's Mcdonaldization and the Critical theory. Culture Suicide Today we are led to believe that we are all individualist and yet we've entered a day and age where mass culture rules all. Culture broken down so it can appeal to largest amount of people for the lowest cost. We've been transformed into a society that craves more and more mass culture without realizing its ever increasing domination of it over us. We've come to seek our own domination. Rather than being forced into working for the western governments, we are controlled through the indirect means of the media, we tune in for hours on end to low brow TV comedies, dramas and seemingly endless contest in which millions of viewers tune in to TV shows filled with contestants tying to answer stupid questions or worse yet, pick numbers in the hopes that they may be given money so that they never have to work again. It has served to bring us countless hours of our favorite sports team on the radio and TV all the while our hostility towards the establishment is broken down. The media acts as a tool to subdue the masses. Instead of forming a united front, we are left to daydream about what would happen if we were to win the lottery. We are all attracted to flashy magazines like US and People hoping to catch a glimpse of our favorite stars. Shopping has become the western world's favorite activity. We spend our vacations spending the money we earned. We create fabulous new technologies to which we promptly become slaves to thus instead of expressing ourselves through the use of said technologies we are controlled by the ones that own these technologies. Gradually individual freedom and creativity is lost, people lose their ability to thinking critically about the world around them. We become concerned with being the most efficient, and try to find the best way to and end without ever reflecting on either the means or the end. We lose our ability to reason. My rant is over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quinton Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 Good summary of the cultural behaviour of a typical status-quo Canadian and unfortunately the majority of people who are members of this forum. Let me say that I pride myself in doing my own thinking. I am an open-minded critical thinker. I do not watch professional sports or anything on TV besides the News and I do not like the choice of stories that is covered by the News. I believe our society's collapse will be due to its goal of perpetual economic growth in a world of finite resources. This collapse is already happening. We have lost many species. We have lost many wild habitats. Habitat loss is a far bigger problem than climate change. Habitat loss is caused by human population growth. Our piece of the pie keeps getting smaller as resources per capita continues to decline. We are in a giant pyramid scheme whereby bringing in new immigrants is required for our money to grow. Our money will ultimately only be able to "buy" what the earth has left to offer. The most likely outcome to our goal of never-ending human growth is war and more war to control resources. We are in denial. The oil party will be over in a couple of decades. Instead of limiting our growth and looking for sustainability we hire politicians to keep the oil party going even though it takes more energy to harvest today's oil than is contained in that oil. There's my rant for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 It is indeed a rant. Your lament ignores the fact that any challenge produces a response. The masses are still masses of humans and, like the human body, they will react when a foreign substances is introduced. The reactions that you are lamenting are actually somewhat natural and need to be understood in order to marshall them towards productive ends. Don't be pessimistic. Despite the growth of the mass market, mass technologies are giving way to indivdiualist technologies. As a result, we have more freedoms than ever now and a broad spectrum of identities to choose from. The best way to tackle your fears is to imagine solutions. MapleLeafWeb is one of those, IMO. Quote  Click to learn why Climate Change is caused by HUMANS Michael Hardner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betsy Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 we tune in for hours on end to low brow TV comedies, dramas and seemingly endless contest in which millions of viewers tune in to TV shows filled with contestants tying to answer stupid questions or worse yet, pick numbers in the hopes that they may be given money so that they never have to work again. My rant is over. Let me continue the rant! And have you noticed the kinds of game shows/reality tv that's so popular? They're all based on humiliating contestants. Stripping them off their dignity...watching them grovel and shame themselves for money! I've seen a segment of American Idol (it was unavoidable....we were guests and the host is a fan...so he tuned in and wanted us to see this amazing show). As the obnoxious game show host (what's-his-name) started to flay the tearful contestant with demeaning and debasing criticisms....our host was laughing his head off! That's comedy??? So for all the anti-American culture bashing we dish...what do we do? We copy-cat! Say hello to Canadian Idol! For all this society's posturing on the importance of building self-esteem....don't you think it's more than just hypocritical to be encouraging this kind of ENTERTAINMENT? It's like the people in a coliseum watching gleefully as humans were pounced on by lions! This is becoming a very sick society. Shallow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 For all this society's posturing on the importance of building self-esteem....don't you think it's more than just hypocritical to be encouraging this kind of ENTERTAINMENT? It's like the people in a coliseum watching gleefully as humans were pounced on by lions! This is becoming a very sick society. Shallow! How are we encouraging it ? We're not restricting it too much, I'll give you that. True, there is the CRTC and there are legal limits as to what you can show but for the most part there's a lot that we can show. But your example from 2000 years ago shows that we're becoming less sick (than the Romans) not more. Maybe we're more sick than we were 30 years ago, or maybe we're just discovering new markets for morbid curiousity. How would you recommend that we address it ? With the 'web, the market for the worse stuff will always be ready to buy. Is that any better than what's on TV ? I guess I'm saying that you can't regulate against human nature. If people have their shallow side, hopefully it's outweighed by their deeper side most of the time. The best you can probably do is discuss social norms with regards to what we as a group are watching. Quote  Click to learn why Climate Change is caused by HUMANS Michael Hardner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dog Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 And have you noticed the kinds of game shows/reality tv that's so popular?They're all based on humiliating contestants. Stripping them off their dignity...watching them grovel and shame themselves for money! I've seen a segment of American Idol (it was unavoidable....we were guests and the host is a fan...so he tuned in and wanted us to see this amazing show). As the obnoxious game show host (what's-his-name) started to flay the tearful contestant with demeaning and debasing criticisms....our host was laughing his head off! That's comedy??? So for all the anti-American culture bashing we dish...what do we do? We copy-cat! Say hello to Canadian Idol! For all this society's posturing on the importance of building self-esteem....don't you think it's more than just hypocritical to be encouraging this kind of ENTERTAINMENT? It's like the people in a coliseum watching gleefully as humans were pounced on by lions! This is becoming a very sick society. Shallow! Nothing builds one's own self-esteem like watching someone else get humiliated. For most people, that's the appeal. My contribution is this: maybe I'm just numb, but it seems these types of "everything's going to shit" arguments have been around forever. Thing is, cultures come and go. Empires rise and empires fall: sic transit gloria mundi. It's the basic solipsism of humanity that has us thinking that our circumstances are unique. Quote America...."the worlds largest, best-armed shopping mall."-Ivor Tossell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Nothing builds one's own self-esteem like watching someone else get humiliated. For most people, that's the appeal.My contribution is this: maybe I'm just numb, but it seems these types of "everything's going to shit" arguments have been around forever. Thing is, cultures come and go. Empires rise and empires fall: sic transit gloria mundi. It's the basic solipsism of humanity that has us thinking that our circumstances are unique. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Marathon dancing is a dance activity originating in the mid-1300s that became very trendy in the 1920s and 30s. Many out of work people competed in the contests in order to achieve fame or win monetary prizes. Wikipedia---- Today we are led to believe that we are all individualist and yet we've entered a day and age where mass culture rules all.We must rely on a common language to communicate with one another, and such is technology that it is easier and easier to communicate.At the same time, most individuals have never been so free to choose their own path. Don't confuse people's methods of communication with people's actions. ---- According to Mark Steyn, the "cultural suicide", if there is one, lies in the fact that liberal-thinking Americans, and non-religious Westerners in general, are not having children. The future belongs to the religious of the world, since they are the ones having kids. If the liberal-thinkers trust the State to assimilate the offspring of the religious, then that is a grave error. Simply put, this is the last gasp of the boomer 1960s Marxist Left. They'll soon start to die off, childless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theloniusfleabag Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Dear August1991, According to Mark Steyn, the "cultural suicide", if there is one, lies in the fact that liberal-thinking Americans, and non-religious Westerners in general, are not having children. The future belongs to the religious of the world, since they are the ones having kids. If the liberal-thinkers trust the State to assimilate the offspring of the religious, then that is a grave error.Merely a cycle. Murdering heretics en masse, forced conversions, etc. did not end 'liberal thinking', in fact it gave rise to it. The cycling will not end until we discover, (or accept) the correct 'culture'. Quote Would the Special Olympics Committee disqualify kids born with flippers from the swimming events? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slavik44 Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Fifty thousand years ago, Modern Humans left Africa and started to travel around the world, since this time both humans and the earth have never been the same. 50,000 years ago, we didn't have much of a life, we ate, we slept we walked, maybe if we we had a bit of liesure time we drew a picture on the wall of a cave. 40,000 years later, just ten thousand years ago things improve greatly, humans left behind their simple lifestyle in the dog eat dog world, when they developed agriculture. Now cities didn't grow over night and for the most part they drifted from camp site to camp site, where in their spare time they told myths, perhpas over a campfire. Most of us have heard myths, most of us have told myths, perhaps we have even done so over a fire while camping. A myth of course is a story, dealing with supernatural beeings, ancestors or heroes and serves as a fundemental world view. What we must ask ourselves at this point, is by retelling these myths, by re-enforcing a fundemental world view were people being controlled and loosing their ability to think critically? I mean they told myths, these myths re-enforced a fundemental view of the world, and probabley by a young age every little child coud remember these myths. If not then how about a couple thousand years later. When settlements started popping up. What happened at these settlements? Well not only were myths told, but based on these myth Gods were seen to be involved in every aspect of Human life, based on these myths humanity knew that there crops succeeded or failed based solely on the will of the Gods. In fact because of these informative myths many societies were willing to make human sacrifices to please the Gods of the myths in order to ensure a succesfull crop. Now if we zoom ahead through time, we start to see the rise of different civilizations. In Egypt a grand civilization emerges, with pharoh's man so powerfull they could order people to spend their lives buildign a pyrmaid for them, not just a few but thousands of people to do so. This of course was made possible by the popularly accepted view of the world, myths. But not just myths but now the egyptians had religion, they had gods, they had the God of the sun. Of course based on myths and Religion Egyptian Kings legitimized themselves, as descendants of the Gods, who deserved so much more then just mere common people. Obvoiusly I don't have 10 thousand years to tell you this story so we are goign to fastforward a bit, but while I press the fast forward button, we need to ask ourselves aq important question. Were people in egpyt being controlled by the elites? Were Myths and many popular liesure activities being used to re-inforce the power of the Egyptian rulers? Now we have arrived at a time less then a thousand years ago, and we will focus on europe. Where we have Kings, aristocrats, and societies elites. All in the place they are in because God granted them this, because it was God's divine will that Kings were kings and that these kings children also became kings or dukes or lords, or whatever Gods will was that they become. Not to long after people began disagreeing on what exactly Gods will was, many of these people took a trip acrossed an ocean and started to build their own societies, societies that God would approove of. They ran into some troubles here and there. We cannot forget the natives, where it was gods will that they would be destroyed and they soon became sick and died. To help build up this society and improve its stregnth a number of immigrants relied on slaves, these were sub humans taken from Africa, scorned by god, they had little intelligence, and no ability to feel Human emotions, the perfect, well slaves. These people also ran into oher problems when whitches were found in salem so off the town went to round up every old lady, with scragly gray hair and a black cap. Now before we fast forward we could ask the same question, how many people were put to death, based on myths, based on supersition, based on a commonly accpeted world view. Now we fast forward to the cold war, and a speech made by a man named Joseph Mccarthy, who had in his possesion a list of names, that the state department would do nothing about, these men were comunists. So off we went to round up and ruin the lives of "the communists". Now we fast forward to this thread. Where people are bitching and complaining about the loss of individuality, a loss that has resulted in people being controlled by game shows, and telivision. they have lost their ability to think critically, and they have lost their ability to think as an individual. But if we don;t have it, did we ever have it. Is the survivor of today worse then the human sacrifice of yesterday. Is the American Idol of today any worse then the slavery of Yesterday. Is the blind faith of today, any worse then the Kings that descended from and ruled with Gods will? If you say yes to this, then I can say only that perhaps the reason you find critical thinking lacking in todays world is because you posses no such ability yourself. Quote The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. - Ayn Rand --------- http://www.politicalcompass.org/ Economic Left/Right: 4.75 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.54 Last taken: May 23, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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