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The internet is a powerful tool. That tool can be used for immense good. But it can also be used by someone who is up to no good. Enter Andrew Breitbart.

Andrew Breitbart at the computer, 04/08/10. (photo: Public Domain)

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+12 # Guest 2010-05-19 22:11

The security in our mental Institutions is very loose, and people like Limbaugh, Beck, Breitbart, Palin are running around and puffing nonsense. Their activities are dangerous, but pays extremely well.

+12 # Guest 2010-05-19 22:31

Nice article and proof positive, once again, that teabaggers don't feel the need to saddle themselves with such frivolities as the "truth", for one. But hey, any slime ball with a grudge can pitch their little fits on Twitter and impress themselves with the smell of their own gas day after day, but it's those who follow these and think they're smelling daisys that worry me.

+7 # Guest 2010-05-20 05:40

Who is at fault, the demagogue our the system that produces so many people vulnerable to their tricks? Deep ignorance and undeveloped human capacity for critical judgment are the problem, demagogues the symptom. Be resolved to go for the cure by leveling with folks that they have been badly served by their society that values only treasure, nothing else. In Biblical times this was called the worship of Mammon.

herb

+9 # Guest 2010-05-20 08:45

Herb is right.

When I hear some of the confusion that passes for commentary on current affairs I wonder about the education system. The problem of our education system not producing critical thinkers needs to be addressed in the interests of democracy.

Ideally, one purpose of education is to produce critical thinkers. The purpose of advertising is to suspend critical thinking to promote impulsive (or even compulsive) consumption and decision making. Billions upon billions are spent on advertizing and pr campaigns while tax cuts lead to the massive underfunding of public education.

We are letting them get away with destroying the viability of public education. It would seem to me that education is where we should be drawing the line if we truly believe in democracy.

+7 # Guest 2010-05-20 08:10

For decades the American TV viewing public has been very systematically conditioned to respond to carefully orchestrated marketing schemes of various products. The term "products" covers many descriptions including tangible goods, services, concepts, ideas, and so on. The likes of those specifically mentioned in the article could only have the clout they seemingly wield with their audience or "market" when the recipients have been sufficiently "conditioned" to accept that which is being marketed. Gullible beware: "IF THEY MARKET THEIR PRODUCT WELL ENOUGH YOU WILL BUY IT!"

+4 # Guest 2010-05-20 16:16

Quoting Jaye Harding:

For decades the American TV viewing public has been very systematically conditioned to respond to carefully orchestrated marketing schemes of various products. The term "products" covers many descriptions including tangible goods, services, concepts, ideas, and so on. The likes of those specifically mentioned in the article could only have the clout they seemingly wield with their audience or "market" when the recipients have been sufficiently "conditioned" to accept that which is being marketed. Gullible beware: "IF THEY MARKET THEIR PRODUCT WELL ENOUGH YOU WILL BUY IT!"

Excellent point. Advertising and marketing are all around us all the time. You can't escape. And everyone is affected by it. It's creepy!

+1 # Guest 2010-05-20 19:27

I threw out my television set a year and a half ago and have been reading 2-3 books weekly since then. Wow! What a difference!

With a book you can read about ideas and not about celebrity gossip. You can study that laboratory of the human experiment AKA history books. You get to exercise your brain for a change and you may discover the art of critical thinking if you read demanding enough material.

The only advertising I have to deal with regards other books.

I don't miss the boob tube one bit. I sleep sounder at night and I find myself increasingly engaged in the world and more inclined to speak up when it seems to matter most. Happier and more content, I am not going back to that hyper driven media beast that gave me my daily shot of adrenaline all right, and nightmares all the time.

Why settle for brain candy when you can dine on some fine books! Toss out the tube. You'll feel calmer and you'll get smarter to boot. Heck of a deal I say!

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