I think here, in a nutshell, is the reason the Proletariat will never revolt


Sorry, that sentence doesn't appear to me to make a coherent point. Could you rephrase it?Don Juan Demarco wrote:It's not dumbing down at all, it's what people actually want to read.
GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! Extraficator the culstarfines!Horwood Beer-Master wrote:Sorry, that sentence doesn't appear to me to make a coherent point. Could you rephrase it?Don Juan Demarco wrote:It's not dumbing down at all, it's what people actually want to read.
It's the 'quite naturally' thing I'd disagree with there. I think it has far-more to do with the tsunami of Prolefeed (soap operas, reality TV, tabloid newspapers, gossip mags, ITV, relentless ads for shiny new crap of no intrinsic value, e.t.c) which people's brains are marinated-in from birth 'till death these days.Don Juan Demarco wrote:Dumbing down implies a wilful enforcement of ignorance. There is no dumbing down at all, people are quite naturally idiotic enough to think it's news worthy.
But were living under a system that acts to compound any innate idiocy as opposed to dispelling it.Don Juan Demarco wrote:...Soap Operas are popular because people enjoy them. People don't enjoy them because they are popular.
The same with any other form of entertainment or tabloid.
It's easy to blame the world around you, not so easy to admit that humans are idiots, even the best of us.
Horwood Beer-Master wrote:But were living under a system that acts to compound any innate idiocy as opposed to dispelling it.Don Juan Demarco wrote:...Soap Operas are popular because people enjoy them. People don't enjoy them because they are popular.
The same with any other form of entertainment or tabloid.
It's easy to blame the world around you, not so easy to admit that humans are idiots, even the best of us.
It is not necessarily an inevitable written-in-stone fact of life that the bulk of people in any given situation, if provided with a free choice in the matter, will always pick the lowest, least informing/thought-provoking mind-numbing form of entertainment over any others.
It is however inevitable that once such trash begins to rise in popularity, all things being equal that rise in popularity will if left unchecked become self-perpetuating, with low-intellect and low-entertainment being caught in a positively reinforcing feedback loop.
So whilst it is true on the one hand, that the lowering standard of entertainment output in recent times has been simply due to the audience having more choice in the matter. It is also true that this lowering standard of entertainment has in turn has a detrimental effect on the audience intellect (which then in turn has a detrimental effect on their choices - thus forming the aforementioned feedback-loop).
I would disagree, quite simply because there is no reason why these people are necessarily forced in to occupying their time with the mundane. It is a self-imposed affliction.Horwood Beer-Master wrote:But were living under a system that acts to compound any innate idiocy as opposed to dispelling it.Don Juan Demarco wrote:...Soap Operas are popular because people enjoy them. People don't enjoy them because they are popular.
The same with any other form of entertainment or tabloid.
It's easy to blame the world around you, not so easy to admit that humans are idiots, even the best of us.
It is not necessarily an inevitable written-in-stone fact of life that the bulk of people in any given situation, if provided with a free choice in the matter, will always pick the lowest, least informing/thought-provoking mind-numbing form of entertainment over any others.
It is however inevitable that once such trash begins to rise in popularity, all things being equal that rise in popularity will if left unchecked become self-perpetuating, with low-intellect and low-entertainment being caught in a positively reinforcing feedback loop.
So whilst it is true on the one hand, that the lowering standard of entertainment output in recent times has been simply due to the audience having more choice in the matter. It is also true that this lowering standard of entertainment has in turn has a detrimental effect on the audience intellect (which then in turn has a detrimental effect on their choices - thus forming the aforementioned feedback-loop).
tl;drDon Juan Demarco wrote:I would disagree, quite simply because there is no reason why these people are necessarily forced in to occupying their time with the mundane. It is a self-imposed affliction.Horwood Beer-Master wrote:But were living under a system that acts to compound any innate idiocy as opposed to dispelling it.Don Juan Demarco wrote:...Soap Operas are popular because people enjoy them. People don't enjoy them because they are popular.
The same with any other form of entertainment or tabloid.
It's easy to blame the world around you, not so easy to admit that humans are idiots, even the best of us.
It is not necessarily an inevitable written-in-stone fact of life that the bulk of people in any given situation, if provided with a free choice in the matter, will always pick the lowest, least informing/thought-provoking mind-numbing form of entertainment over any others.
It is however inevitable that once such trash begins to rise in popularity, all things being equal that rise in popularity will if left unchecked become self-perpetuating, with low-intellect and low-entertainment being caught in a positively reinforcing feedback loop.
So whilst it is true on the one hand, that the lowering standard of entertainment output in recent times has been simply due to the audience having more choice in the matter. It is also true that this lowering standard of entertainment has in turn has a detrimental effect on the audience intellect (which then in turn has a detrimental effect on their choices - thus forming the aforementioned feedback-loop).
The television has an off button, books can simply be picked up and opened at any time. The internet provides a valuable commodity for research on entertainment and access to a wide variety of more 'advanced' entertainment, or reviews of such at the very least.
They could simply go outside, talk to their friends or family, buy model kits, pick up an instrument, purchase a book or dvd - or even download them for free. They choose not to do any of these things, they choose to watch reality television, they choose not to read newspapers but choose to read tabloids. There is option, and there is choice, and they are the ones who create the market for them. If there was no willing audience, none of these things would exist.
It is hardly self-perpetuating. It does not fuel itself, it does not create a market or audience, it appeals to one. It expands not because it has the power or influence to do so, but because it feeds off the desires of the audience.
In the words of my sister:
"I have to be in the mood for something deep."
Utter bullocks, classifying things as 'deep' simply because they're not a romantic comedy or action film.
FBM wrote:tl;drDon Juan Demarco wrote:I would disagree, quite simply because there is no reason why these people are necessarily forced in to occupying their time with the mundane. It is a self-imposed affliction.Horwood Beer-Master wrote:But were living under a system that acts to compound any innate idiocy as opposed to dispelling it.Don Juan Demarco wrote:...Soap Operas are popular because people enjoy them. People don't enjoy them because they are popular.
The same with any other form of entertainment or tabloid.
It's easy to blame the world around you, not so easy to admit that humans are idiots, even the best of us.
It is not necessarily an inevitable written-in-stone fact of life that the bulk of people in any given situation, if provided with a free choice in the matter, will always pick the lowest, least informing/thought-provoking mind-numbing form of entertainment over any others.
It is however inevitable that once such trash begins to rise in popularity, all things being equal that rise in popularity will if left unchecked become self-perpetuating, with low-intellect and low-entertainment being caught in a positively reinforcing feedback loop.
So whilst it is true on the one hand, that the lowering standard of entertainment output in recent times has been simply due to the audience having more choice in the matter. It is also true that this lowering standard of entertainment has in turn has a detrimental effect on the audience intellect (which then in turn has a detrimental effect on their choices - thus forming the aforementioned feedback-loop).
The television has an off button, books can simply be picked up and opened at any time. The internet provides a valuable commodity for research on entertainment and access to a wide variety of more 'advanced' entertainment, or reviews of such at the very least.
They could simply go outside, talk to their friends or family, buy model kits, pick up an instrument, purchase a book or dvd - or even download them for free. They choose not to do any of these things, they choose to watch reality television, they choose not to read newspapers but choose to read tabloids. There is option, and there is choice, and they are the ones who create the market for them. If there was no willing audience, none of these things would exist.
It is hardly self-perpetuating. It does not fuel itself, it does not create a market or audience, it appeals to one. It expands not because it has the power or influence to do so, but because it feeds off the desires of the audience.
In the words of my sister:
"I have to be in the mood for something deep."
Utter bullocks, classifying things as 'deep' simply because they're not a romantic comedy or action film.
I wouldn't say puzzle games of that kind are either positive or negative forms of entertainment on the "Thought Provoking Vs. Thought Eroding" axis of things. They could be said to be mentally stimulating in a sense (albeit not the sense that builds intellect), 'though some might say they're time-wasting/distracting, but that's a different (if not quite completely unrelated) issue to what was being discussed.Feck wrote:...It's true .......I'm off to play Bejewelled
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