In the middle of chapter 2 of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman says that "truth" always comes adorned and in "proper clothing" or else it will not be acknowledged. I pondered upon this statement and agreed 100% with Postman. Would you believe a kindergarten-er who said that he knew if UFO's existed or not, or would you console your extraterrestrial curiosity by listening to a seasoned scientist who has been working in the cryptozoology department at NASA (if that even exists...) for twenty years? If you were doing online research, wouldn't you say that a "proper" copyrighted website (such as Encyclopedia Britannica) was more reliable than a website whose typing was in "L33T". (L33T is a slang method of typing, used especially on the internet). A lot of the time, people will trust what is said on the news and newspapers because of its history of reliabilty. Although there are plenty of skeptics and stick-it-to-the-man-esque type of people out there, our human populace generally puts their trust into a "properly-dressed" truth. Will the day ever come that we're constantly being lied to? And we start believing properly-dressed lies? Or has it happened already?
Monday, August 9, 2010
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In the middle of chapter 2 of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman says that "truth" always comes adorned and in "proper clothing" or else it will not be acknowledged. I pondered upon this statement and agreed 100% with Postman. Would you believe a kindergarten-er who said that he knew if UFO's existed or not, or would you console your extraterrestrial curiosity by listening to a seasoned scientist who has been working in the cryptozoology department at NASA (if that even exists...) for twenty years? If you were doing online research, wouldn't you say that a "proper" copyrighted website (such as Encyclopedia Britannica) was more reliable than a website whose typing was in "L33T". (L33T is a slang method of typing, used especially on the internet). A lot of the time, people will trust what is said on the news and newspapers because of its history of reliabilty. Although there are plenty of skeptics and stick-it-to-the-man-esque type of people out there, our human populace generally puts their trust into a "properly-dressed" truth. Will the day ever come that we're constantly being lied to? And we start believing properly-dressed lies? Or has it happened already?
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I think the government has been using "properly dressed lies" ever since they learned that they could years ago. Sad thing is, no one knows when it started because they're so good at it. Or we're just that bad at spotting it. The one time I remember knowing that something was up was when the Iraq war was in its middle (since during the beginning I was too young to understand or care). IT especially began to hit me when I read about it in history classes: why are we attacking a people that don't want our "help" and killing millions in the process? The government and the media have definitely been lying to us for who knows how long. Sadly, I don't think there are enough people who care to stop it.
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