Advertising has little to do with the actual characteristics
of products and more to do with the insecurities of the customers. Ads largely target or even create
insecurities in consumers and present the product as the fix. This is based almost solely on emotion and
disregards logic. That is a problem for
capitalism since the smooth functioning of capitalism is based on people making
rational and well informed choices.
Public debate is based on sound bites and buzz words. These cut every idea down to the lowest
common denominator and then pit them against one another as binary
opposites. This makes debating and
choosing sides easy; your side is the one that you agree with as a kneejerk
reaction and the other side is wrong and even evil. That is a problem for democracy since it is
based on people making thoughtful decisions and being open to compromise and
cooperation.
Education is aimed more and more at grades and standardized
tests. It is the grade that matters and
not the process of learning or the development of the person. It is the standardized test that evaluates
how well you have learned and not what you actually do or think on a daily
basis. Students are graduating without
skills, habits and wisdom that they can use in the real world every day. That is a problem for free societies that
need to be filled with responsible, independent and community minded people in
order to function.
The progressive saying “question authority” has been turned
into the belligerent “defy authority.” This rules out any meaningful
conversation with authority which means that authority and tradition will not
evolve. In this environment they will
both be tossed aside as irrelevant. That
is a problem when our concept of history is based on progress that grows out of
accomplishments and wisdom of the past.
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