The Difference Between "Stupidity" and "Dangerous Stupidity"
In correspondence to a close personal friend who happens to be a supporter of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, I wrote:
Btw, I know you don’t watch Fox News outside of Bill O’Reilly, and that’s a good thing. Just for grins, I watched a few minutes of Greta van Susteren late last night. Here’s her interview with the Reverend Franklin Graham, the point of which is that Obama is a Muslim, and that this explains why he’s doing nothing about ISIS, and, by extension, how his secretly held religious tenets put all Americans at risk. An excerpt: “The president is ignoring the fact that there are Islamic extremists, they are terrorists; they have already said that they want the flag of Islam to fly over the White House. His (Obama’s) entire life, his entire experiences has been Islam. His father is a Muslim, his mother was married to a Muslim. He only knows Islam. He’s given a ‘pass’ to Islam. (This is why) he’s refusing to accept and understand the evil that’s in front of him.”
Now yes, anyone with even a meager education and capacity for reading and learning laugh this off, but a great number don’t have that luxury, and this is therefore an effective appeal to hordes of ignorant/stupid people. So far, that’s not an issue for me. I could say the same about Coca Cola commercials. But there is a problem here: Insinuating that the president of the United States is abetting terrorists because he himself shares their world-view isn’t just pandering to run-of-the-mill stupidity; it’s inflaming dangerous stupidity. There are people who believe this garbage and vote accordingly. I didn’t understand how this could possibly be true until last night, when it finally sunk in: It’s broadcast to them, as if it were “news,” 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That’s the difficulty: it’s not called “Fox Talk” (which I would have tolerated). It’s called “Fox News.” These people think all this hate speech is actually true because it’s being presented to them (continually) just as if it were coming from Walter Cronkite.
I’m reminded of times I was driving my kids to school and they’d want to listen to hip-hop music that degraded women in the most disgusting ways possible, and sanctioned violence, drug abuse, killing policemen, etc. I’d say, “Sorry, we’re not doing this,” changing the station. “If you want to listen to “noise,” I can understand that. In fact, I fully expect teenage kids to listen to noise. Trust me, when I was your age, my parents considered the music I liked to be utter noise. But there’s a problem here. This isn’t just noise; it’s abusive noise, and it will not become a part of our family.”
In a free society, it’s hard to know exactly what to do here. One hopes that the market itself removes crap like this from existence, i.e., no one watches it, meaning that no one sponsors it, meaning that it disappears. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work the way we might hope.
Countries without the equivalent of our First Amendment have a course of action available to them that we don’t. Did you know that in certain parts of Europe, it’s illegal to say that the Holocaust didn’t happen? That’s right, it’s not ill-advised, it’s illegal. Here, we have to let people with baseless ideas express them, and we can only hope they suffer the consequences that have been around since the cave man, i.e., ostracism.
I happen to believe that the ratings of trash like what I quoted above will eventually go the same route as the other very similar promoters of radical hate and exclusion, and I have case studies on which to hang my hat, e.g., what’s become of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. But I’ve been wrong before (once or twice) and there’s no guarantee I’m correct here.
This whole thing is very sticky. You’re probably aware that France has been arresting comedians and journalists all over their country for saying upsetting things, while they—and people all over the world—are standing up for free speech and waving “Je Suis Charlie” banners. I don’t know what to say about this; at best it’s a problem without a clear solution.
Again, my only real objection here is the use of the word “news,” insofar as it makes a claim that a reasonable person would take seriously, and that could lead him into harm’s way. In my mind, it’s no more worthy of protection under the First Amendment than walking into a crowded theater and yelling “Fire!”
And it gets worse. According to this astonishing decision from an appellate court in Florida, news agencies have the right to broadcast what they absolutely know to be false. Telling the truth in the news megabusiness is a “policy,” but not a “rule.” Hmmmm. Interesting distinction.
Until 1994, companies with dietary supplements could not claim that their products were effective in the diagnosis, prevention, or cure of any disease. As the result of intense pressure from lobbyists, however, that disappeared. Now, we have sugar pills that are promoted to shrink men’s prostates and enlarge their penises at the same time, or whatever. The only limit facing the ad copywriter now is the credulity of the audience.
Yet while the evaporation of consumer trade protection in items like these may be regrettable, we can all say, “Let the buyer beware.” In the world of information and disinformation in a democratic society, however, it’s a tougher call.
I watch both sides and compare. It’s as bad on the other side of the fence, and there are reasons for it. The air waves are not free, but they are profitable and the 1st Amendment doesn’t apply. Continued access to the air waves and the wires is dependent on the approval of the ‘Party Hounds’ and that also means continued access to the obscene over-compensation packages. Most of the “Pretty Stupids” could not replace those pay packages (the jobs maybe).
Actually, those pills enlarge your prostate and shrink your penis!…I am sueing!…Aside from that … This is very well written, one of your best pieces…keep the banner high and laugh every once in a while at the place in history that you have landed…now go out and do great things, there is plenty of opportunity as you have well pointed out…
There’s only two real problems surfacing?
One: It’s now accepted practice to lie and fabricate about anything in the press!
Two: Groups are paying big money to elect those that lie and fabricate to be elected to positions so they can lie and fabricate from a position of power.
Gee Dah! Country must have been doing to well?
I hope your conclusions are right, that the market will force the faux news off the air as their ratings fall, but it won’t happen soon enough, and unfortunately evidence shows that it’s not happening at all.
National poll of voters shows that they really are the most trusted…
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2173
News story on the study with some good charts:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/03/10/why_fox_news_is_winning_125886.html
Unfortunately “There’s a sucker born every minute” and “Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people” and we probably are heading towards “Idiocracy”
That was a good article and I fully agree with it. Probably supporting free speech in spite of the problems it causes is the lesser of two evils.
Sometimes there is a remedy for disinformation. If it is libelous and causes harm, injured persons can sue for damages. Perhaps that should be done more often. Regarding absurd claims for medications, perhaps a class action suit would be effective in stopping it. In the case of stating that Obama is a Muslim and was born in Africa, a libel suit might be a remedy. I wonder whether charges of treason would stand up.
At one time, the FTC would stop misleading advertising. I have been shocked to see all the useless “remedies” advertised on TV and elsewhere, including penis enlargement pills, pills to lose weight, etc. etc. The fact that these advertisements continue is proof of the effectiveness of the advertisements and gullibility of the American public. Perhaps it would help to write TV stations and networks and state that one will not continue to watch programs which include false advertising.
The just plain silliness of some advertisements is insulting to the intelligence of erudite viewers. Among other things, I have in mind how cars are advertised. The effectiveness of such advertising is alarming because it reveals the lack of judgement of the public. Astoundingly, even expensive cars, such as Mercedes, are advertised in such a stupid manner.
Constant repletion seems to be a very effective method to influence people else the amount spent on political campaigns would not have a great effect. It might be a good idea to review school curricula to see whether it adequately addresses propaganda techniques, how people are affected by them, and how to avoid being misled by them. When I was in high school, we studied these techniques.
At the risk of being labeled a “conspiracy theorist,” allow me to point out (as was firmly recognized by Teddy Roosevelt, Adam Smith, and many other notables across human history) that “capital organizes.”
The wealthy interests at the “top” of our society – and who exert massive and undue influence in all areas of human endeavor – have no interest in a critically thinking and imaginative population over which to rule. Instead they encourage ignorance and demand obedience and conformity.
This is why the regular consumers of Fox News are shown not only to be more ignorant and misled on a whole range of issues, but actually grow more ignorant and misled over time with increased exposure. This well-researched and demonstrated fact puts me in mind of a quote by Samuel Foote, a British actor and dramatist of the mid 1700’s, “He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”
Rupert Murdoch and others like him are not interested in providing a public service to circulate crucial and valuable truths. They are instead intent on luring humanity into a snare of illusion and deceit, to preserve and expand their own political power and their own personal financial gain.
American society, in particular, labors under many severe misapprehensions. Chief among these, in practical terms, is that we are and have always been a democratic republic, yet our founders only appealed to the myth that all men are created equal, while at the same time enshrining slavery and granting suffrage only to white male landowners. Also, that capitalism and democracy are compatible or complementary (they are even mythologized as being one and the same). In reality, capitalism has – by design – always favored those with great wealth, and it operates according to predatory principles by which cooperation for mutual benefit applies only to trusts and cartels as convenience dictates.
Another important delusion is that self-interest and competition are the instrumental forces behind human progress. Yet our history shows that humankind emerged from the savagery of an animal existence by sharing and cooperating, not through greed and conflict.
How does this apply to renewables? The controlling interests in our society have not yet decided it is to their private advantage to shift from filthy ancient sunlight to the clean modern stuff. The immensely profitable fossil energy industry is subsidized – according to a recent presidential speech – to the tune of $4 billion annually… that’s pretty rich music.
However beneficial renewables will be to our United States and health and well-being for ourselves and our progeny, there is a substantial transition cost for all those firms that continue to regard these resources as competition. Their formidable lobbying power ensures that the feeble attempts to subsidize renewables will continue to be sporadic, unpredictable and anemic. We may also expect the campaign of misinformation, concealment, and discredit to endure long past the tipping point.
If we want to escape indentured servitude and act with true liberty, we will find instruction in the words of a man who accomplished those feats in great measure, Frederick Douglass:
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
Exxon-Mobil and its ilk are quite well organized, and not for altruistic public benefit. If we logical, critically thinking and imaginative humans want to see our national security and political sovereignty preserved, and if we want to defend ourselves and our posterity against the lethal ravages that fossil fuels inflict upon the biosphere and the economy, we had best get organized.
Existing Nuke tech is not an option. All currently operating and genuinely planned commercial nuclear fission energy technology is prohibitively expensive when all the costs are accounted for – mining, refining, construction, insuring, waste containment, facility lifespan, decommissioning – and, given natural disasters, human error and sabotage/terrorism potential, it’s clearly proven to be inherently dangerous to the biosphere just to operate.
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is safe, clean, proven technology, and modern energy storage systems make it viable. Harvesting modern sunshine is much cleaner and safer (and cheaper in the long run) than sucking and digging up filthy prehistoric sunshine, dragging it dangerously all over the planet, burning it up, and pouring 32 billion metric tons of CO2 yearly into the modern sky. Only bribery keeps that toxic filth marketable.
Regarding the effects of Fox News on its viewers… Examine the study referenced here: http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/knowless/
Further, A study by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs, as published in the Winter 03-04 issue of the Political Science Quarterly, reported that poll-based findings indicated that viewers of Fox News, the Fox Broadcasting Company and local Fox affiliates were more likely than viewers of other news networks to hold three misperceptions that were repeatedly and continually professed across that network:
· 67% of Fox viewers believed that the “U.S. has found clear evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with the al Qaeda terrorist organization” (Compared with 56% for CBS, 49% for NBC, 48% for CNN, 45% for ABC, 16% for NPR/PBS).
· The belief that “The U.S. has found Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq” was held by 33% of Fox viewers and only 23% of CBS viewers, 19% for ABC, 20% for NBC, 20% for CNN and 11% for NPR/PBS
· 35% of Fox viewers believed that “the majority of people [in the world] favor the U.S. having gone to war” with Iraq. (Compared with 28% for CBS, 27% for ABC, 24% for CNN, 20% for NBC, 5% for NPR/PBS)
Additionally, PIPA conducted a statistical study on misinformation evidenced by registered voters prior to the 2010 election. According to the results of the study, “…false or misleading information is widespread in the general information environment…” but viewers of Fox News were far more likely to be misinformed on specific issues when compared to viewers of comparable media.
The study revealed this likelihood increased proportionally to the frequency of viewing Fox News, and that these findings are statistically significant.
Moreover, Fox News broadcast personalities have narrated inaccurate video footage aired by the network which served to amplify the audiences perception of public support for favored political figures, and the network has also broadcast doctored images of the news staff of news outlets that Fox staff viewed unfavorably.
Oscar Ameringer, author, The Life and Deeds of Uncle Sam, observed, “Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor, and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.”
Whatever people might say about “government” being “the problem,” can we leave the our birthrights and our Public Commons in the hands of ‘the market”?
Here’s just a little slice of the massive encyclopedia of corporate criminality:
• Barclays Bank and UBS and other financial institutions’ manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) of which Andrew Lo, MIT Professor of Finance, said, “This dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scam in the history of markets.” …This scandal reportedly involved the participation of the Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Bank, Bank of America, and Citibank
• The BP/Transocean debacle in the Gulf of Mexico (in violation of government regulations) resulting in the most massive release of oil in the history of human activity and a flood of toxins willfully deployed against EPA warnings in the corporate concealment of the total quantity of the spill, wreaking untold damages to the entire gulf environment in general, coastal wetlands, critical spawning grounds, fisheries, as well as seafood and numerous related businesses
• The Exxon disaster in Puget Sound (in violation of government regulations), with severe health and environmental effects persisting until the present day
• The Union Carbide massacre of innocents in Bhopal, India (because of conditions persisting in violation of government regulations) killing thousands of people and severely injuring tens of thousands more, with severe health and environmental effects persisting until the present day
• Beechnut’s willful sale of colored sugar-water labeled as “apple juice” to mothers for their infants (in violation of government regulations)
• Wyeth’s deadly debacle with Fen-Phen (despite of government warnings) …not to mention Big Pharma’s generalized and continual proclivity for harmful “medications” (like Thorazine, Thalidomide, Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra, Crestor, Propulsid and Rezulin)
• The fraudulent accounting methods that led to the collapse of WorldCom, resulting in the largest bankruptcy filing in US history at the time (since overtaken by both Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual within eleven short days of each other during September 2008)
• The fraudulent concealment of losses and the manipulation of trade in the Enron energy trading scandal, in which massive sums were gouged from the People of the State of California, and thousands of investors were swindled
• Arthur Andersen’s willful obstruction of justice in its shredding of documents relating to the Enron trading scandal
• The massive overbilling by Kellogg, Brown and Root for the supply of food, water and laundry services to US Troops in Iraq
Does anyone still think “The Market” can be trusted to police itself? Is that a rational conclusion to draw from the evidence of history?
Good government is how We the People defend our Public Commons and advance our Common Good. Good government won’t come from people who hate government.
Bottom line: Free Speech and Free Press enable much healthier elections than bribery and propaganda.
Want improvement? Ban bribery in all its forms. That’s the most important and central issue that controls all others.
As long as cash reigns as king, we’ll be slaves to greed and cowardice.
Thanks, Cameron. You’ll be pleased to know that Lawrence Lessig’s “MayDay” (effort to reform our money-focused “democracy”) is still quite active: https://mayday.us/.
I am partly pleased to hear that particular organization still persists.
However, I have serious doubts about the utility of public-centered efforts to compete in the arena of bribery. In 2012 ExxonMobil alone could have bought all the state and federal elections in the country with just 14% of one year’s profits.
The same effect could have been achieved by the public with just $21 per citizen, but any public-centered success in that arena would likely only result in the other arm being brought out from behind the corporate back.
The amount of largess available from private hands with access to corporate treasuries to be used for that kind of corruption is not easily attainable by elements of the public sphere. I therefore firmly believe the answer is to prohibit bribery, not compete with it.
That said, I can see how many people have come to regard public competition in bribery as more plausible than getting the Foxes to vote themselves out of our hen house. A massive citizens movement is necessary to effect justice in this matter. Indeed, that’s been nearly the sole source of every sociopolitical reform across human history.
Well, this is an effort to elect people who refuse to accept those megadollars.
Well Said Cameron, you speak Truth to the many illusions that plague our society at all levels. Thank you for your wonderful , most thoughtful examination and colorful description of the broken state of affairs that we find our selves in. The Illusions and the Towers need to fall further before the muddled minds of the masses will begin to see they are following a well orchestrated game of being monopolized at every turn….well said thank you in Harmonious Agreement and in Deep respect for the Bright headlights of Clarity which emanates thru your thoughts and positions. PACE !
Thanks for your kind words, silentrunning. (Excellent film, by the way.)