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Originally Posted by coberst
In a bumper-sticker society most people do not recognize the degree of their igorance and thus never make an effort to overcome that ignorance. 'Bumper-sticker mentality is dangerous to democracy.'
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Could you elaborate on this point?
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Originally Posted by coberst
I call our society the sound-bite society because we so often consider the sound-bite or bumper-sticker to be sufficient knowledge for anyone. In that illusion we do not become very intellectually sophisticated.
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I dont follow this line of reasoning. I consider the 'bumper sticker society' of say, N. Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China (under Mao), etc., much more dangerous societies because they dont have the choices as this society does; in that it is a matter of choice whether someone takes a detailed interest in a subject here. Which is why it bothers me so much how the word 'ignorance' is tossed about. It is dismissive of the diversity of peoples interests.
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Originally Posted by coberst
I often get a response from a reader of one of my posts "everybody knows that (bumper sticker phrase)" The reader that makes such a reply considers the short phrase says it all about the concept that I have elaborated about.
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I hold (for the most part) the person who considers themselves the intellectual superior in a debate, as the party responsible for being able to convey their points well enough to the person who holds a lesser degree of knowledge, that the points made in the argument at least convey knowledge (it has to be comprehendable) and in the best case, provoke the 2nd parties interest enough to inspire learning more about the subject.
The point is, it is the speakers responsiblity to "know your audience".
Its not easy sometimes to remember where you came from and the times when you didnt know as much about a topic as you do now. Talking down to a person your trying to convey a meaning to will get you nowhere with someone who is mildly interested in a topic. Figuring out the audience's mindset and speaking to that point in time will get you much farther than becoming discouraged and presenting your points in an elitest tone.
And dont forget for every one post, there may be 10 persons reading and not posting.
