[coberst]

LCD talking and thinking

I think that almost all political talk is LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) talk. LCD talk is aimed at manipulating the maximum number of people as possible to agree with the talker.

I claim that almost all verbal exchanges on TV are LCD talk. Advertisers, political aficionados, and ideologues all use LCD talk.

LCD talk is so prevalent on TV because it produces sales. It produces sales because our schools and colleges have taught us only what to think rather than how to think. We have never been taught to be Critical Thinkers and thus the great mass of us are easily manipulated by talk that appeals to base instinctive emotions rather than to good judgment.

Success is more important than truth. Moving people to buy my commodity is more valuable than is the expression of truth. Selling is more important than truth. We have lost our sense of direction because we have allowed LCD talk to be successful.

[Thunderbird]

Its the predatory nature of the universe.

We have evolved to become predators of attention, the preacher, politician, salesmen, artist..... everyone participates in this energy exchange in society. The question is what level in this exchange are you participating in, what is the intent.

We compete for attention here on this forum, but the intentions are not all the same. The ratios of what we seek varies from person to person. What is your intention in participation in the world? What are the ratios in these intentions? Effecting the world view? gaining knowledge? sense of community participation? Gauging ones knowledge? Intellectual stimulation? stimulating ego ? Money? fame?.........

What is your profession ? how do you fit in to these intentions ?

We balance our intentions between conserving and promoting the autonomy of the ‘self” and our connections to others.

What type of slide fulcrum do you possess when move between autonomy and connection ? how does your fulcrum operate when gauging the importance of information?
What is your economic standards of expending your attention?
What and where is our attention best spent?
What new perspective or information are you offering me here as an exchange for my attention?

[jedaisoul]

Nice one, T'bird.

[coberst]

One reader suggested that I had misstated the problem. The problem is that our LCD is too low. In other words, we must, as a group, increase our level of intellectual sophistication. We have the brain power but lack something that Emerson has written about, Self-Reliance. I suspect that we might gain some understanding of our situation if we were to read Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance".

We are creatures of our culture. We not only create our culture but we are also slaves of our culture. It takes a great effort of courage and confidence to drag the self out of the quick-sand which is our culture.


Self-Reliance - Understanding the Essay