Psikeyhacker, we have a lot of people on the Internet who also run interference for various industries. Ask yourself why an alternative fuel industry based on alcohol would have people running interference for it. It is because this alternative fuel industry uses about as much fossil fuels as the cars would have if they used gasoline, so that the oil industry either doesn't lose to ethanol or does gain. Ethanol also helps quiet environmental protestors.
Anyway, the answer exists in one of the first replies. Knowledge is control. To obtain knowledge one much have time. Time is money...so with the right efforts money is control through knowledge. Without knowing what is going on around you (the example of commercials is ideal) then you tend to conform to what the masses have presented as an easy obvious option. If one doesn't have enough time to sit down and dismantle thoughts daily due to working overtime, having a family, and trying to keep sane through mundane life (hanging out, getting CRUNK), then he tends to assimilate with others more easily. No, there is no government controlling us but those who have time to think and question how to will succeed in some effect. If there are enough people with common interests despite knowing one another (a CEO who is close with the security of emails could very well read each flagged one personally. He has no other job.), these abject companies might find themselves in the same [chat] room one day. Or maybe it really is all chaos like the media tells us it is.
Well, without technology we would be a lot less informed - and probably easier to control. So, no, more technology does not mean we are more under control than before.
But disinformation can be spread a lot better. You know who USED technology to get people to worship him and do him a lot of ugly little favors.
The internet cannot be used to force people to think. It is still up to the people getting info/bullsh!t to do some sorting. But relevant information density matters. You can put little relevant info in a lot of words or a lot of relevant info in few words. From how many sources have you heard of economists ignoring depreciation of consumer goods? Do you ever hear economists on TV discussing depreciation? psik
Yeah, but the fact that there was disinformation was also spread quickly - and look at what has happened to HIM.
well... education comes from a conveyor belt, right? The ministry of education is responsible for what "has to" be taught and what "needn't" by what I'd innocently figure. So I'd look there for people who direct education. But, they can only push it so much. And there's surely more than one person pushing them in their own directions. The first 9 years of school (before highschool), I believed the school was a brainwashing machine. Tough. Some teachers try to teach, others follow the program. They're taught, too, teacher skills can be learned via conveyor belt education. So some are just damn idiots. It's a matter of luck there. Internet speeds things and ups the stakes. More info is available than one person can probably absorb, so it's hard to be sure in anything, express any opinions. Lies can spread faster, so can info. So I agree, same game on new levels. Hard to even keep track of the levels... "HELP!!!" is a word that comes to mind. edit - oh yeah, sure, if you don't like TV, don't watch it. It's about as effective as saying if you don't like the government, elect someone else. You just don't get a real choice there. IF you choose to live without TV, you'll lose a noticable part of modern culture. I mean, it's not that simple if everyone else has TV and everyone assumes you have one. As for switching channels... "three hundred channels and nothing to watch", "same crap on every channel".
And so what if you do lose a 'noticeable part of modern culture'? Why would that matter? What could it possibly matter that 'everyone' assumes you have a TV too? Let them make their inane assumptions. Ignore that 'noticeable', but largely valueless part of modern culture. For ****'s sake, would it be too much trouble to try being an individual, rather than a herd animal? [Now get ready. I'm sure you can manage a knee jerk reaction. Don't let us all down.]
From my perspective, plot and intent are synonymous. It is indeed the way things are but it is not due to the intentional workings of any group or set of groups. Rather it is simply an emergent trend that is produced by the actions of the masses of milling human beings that make up society. Nobody is planning for this to happen any more than a termite queen plans to erect a cathederal of mud and sand. It is just something that happens when you get enough termites reacting to each other. Uniformity of nature and action are beneficial traits in large populations while individuality, though sometimes benifical, creates proverbial cracks in the superstructure. In smaller groups, however, a high level of diversity and flexability is essential for group survival. This isn't to say that I like the way these big groups work. In the old days I would have taken the traditional way out and thrown myself at the frontier... the crusades, the wild west, whatever. But, alas, we seem to be out of frontier unless you plan on strapping a rocket to your ass and learning how to breath void. Society has no goals: it is blind and with hardly any memory. And it learns only by bashing headlong into obsticals to determine their positions. People try to steer it by pulling on its nosering but rarely is there one who can keep from being drug along for the ride.
My life is totally ruined because I didn't watch Seinfeld and Friends. Star Trek just wasn't enough. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! psik
why, you're actually literally begging for it! Well, for one, if you can't become an individual while having a TV and watching it, it's unlikely you'd simply become one when you give your TV up. It doesn't automatically make you wise or give character. Watch TV and don't let it rule your life - that'd build character. Giving it up is running away from TV. Everyone assuming something about you does matter, if you wish to live in society. Disregarding assumptions and thinking nothing of modern culture as you advised, one would have no choice but to become a hermit who wishes to live in another age. Is giving up TV for the sake that it's too standard and cheesy worth it? Is it... no trouble? "Herd animal" has really become a trend word, everyone uses it without second thought. TV-watching alone is hardly sufficient cause to become a herd animal. So don't be a trend animal who says "Just don't watch TV, it's as simple as that, there's absolutely nothing to it, don't be a herd animal" and then watches TV.