Almost all economists agree that government austerity measures during a time of economic travail, such as today, will only prolong a recession and exacerbate the plight of the unemployed, the underemployed and middle class employees who have seen their wages stagnate or erode. Despite all of the objective evidence to the contrary, Republicans in Washington appear to have succeeded in their monomaniacal efforts to commit the federal government to extreme austerity measures. How have they accomplished this feat?
For decades now, the Republican media consultants, as chronicled by Roy Brock in his important book, The Republican Noise Machine, have sought to persuade ordinary Americans that the print and electronic media throughout the United States is dominated by liberals. For that reason, all news reports that propose to discuss the scientific basis of evolution, the existence of climate change, or which suggest that the current political system is dysfunctional should be dismissed. as evidence of liberal bias. The purpose of this consistent propaganda effort has been to inculcate a worldview that denies that there is any such thing as "objective reality" or fact-based information. In a world in n which all information has been reduced to that which one believes, one's subjective understanding of reality is as valid as anyone else's, and that the opinions of the ignoramus or village idiot are entitled to the same weight as the research of the scholar.
On an individual level, it is a sad fact that too many of American citizens lack the basic skills in reading, writing and comprehension to use language to communicate effectively or coherently. Few can read a newspaper such as The New York Times with good comprehension; fewer still read any newspapers or books at all.
By almost every indicator - whether measured by linguistic, scientific, historic, economic, geographic or legal literacy - Americans, as a people, fare poorly. We have become a "sound-bite" culture. The consequence of this pervasive illiteracy is that many American citizens cannot distinguish between a fact or an opinion, or distinguish myth from reality. In addition, the illiteracy of the American population creates a docile and easily manipulated public. At the political level, the inability to understand and to use language properly has created a vacuum into which slogans and cant have become substitutes for serious public discussion or analysis of issues.
When language is used imprecisely - or in a slovenly or cavalier manner - the underlying quality of thought is similarly compromised. The link between language and thought is explored in George Orwell's profound novel, 1984. In that seminal book, the central character, Winston Smith, works in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to help to create for the omnipresent tyranny which governs Oceana a new language, Newspeak. Newspeak is the ultimate language of control: Each year in the Ministry of Truth, thousands of words are eliminated. In addition, antonyms are collapsed into synonyms. Hence, "Freedom is slavery, "Ignorance is strength, "War is peace." As Orwell reminds us in the appendix to that novel, when one loses the capacity to use words correctly, one loses the capacity to think; when one loses the capacity to think, the ability to rebel or to imagine alternatives to the status quo is irrevocably extinguished.
The misuse of words impairs our ability to reason and to understand social reality. The deceptive or imprecise use of words denotes fallacious or imprecise thinking. When words are used as epithets for the purposes of ad hominem attacks, the intent of the author of the words is to elicit an emotional reaction and to thus foreclose the possibility of serious reflection or consideration by appealing to the listener's prejudices. Thus, during the past six decades as we have seen, the word "liberal" and a panoply of related synonyms such as "tax and spend," "death tax" and "government mandates" have been used by various politicians and media outlets to convey something sinister, while slogans such as "free enterprise," "individual rights" and the "American way" have been invoked to convey something wonderful and patriotic.
The calculated use of these words has been to persuade citizens to acquiesce to the roll-back of government regulation and programs in the public interest, and to thwart efforts to regulate heretofore unregulated entities such as hedge funds and financial instruments such as collateralized securities and debt obligations. By 2008, under the political cover provided by this linguistic subterfuge, the unrestrained pursuit of self-aggrandizement had precipitated a severe and prolonged fiscal crisis in the United States and throughout the world, the effects of which have continued to cripple the U.S. economy to the present.
This concerted campaign to roll back the modest government regulation introduced during the New Deal--which was designed to preserve market capitalism while attempting to insulate the public against its worst excesses--has been aided and abetted by the print and electronic media which, heavily dependent upon corporate investment and advertising, uncritically toe the party line. Given the decline of the print media, the broadcast media especially have been effective surrogates which promote a partisan political agenda.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the Fox Television Network, which claims to present "fair and balanced news," spews a stream of political propaganda and invective across the airwaves against those they depict as the enemies of American values. Besides the Fox Network, thousands of radio outlets across the United States routinely promote the partisan rhetoric of right-wing talk show hosts. They stridently espouse "traditional" American values of gun ownership, militarism, xenophobia, jingoism, and eighteenth century--i.e. liberal--notions of rugged individualism punctuated with appeals to pure avarice--"I've got mine, screw you."
While Fox and its right-wing friends may be the most obvious cases in point, the talking heads and presenters on the other twenty-four hour cable networks are equally culpable. Pleasant, vacuous, uninformed "presenters," many of whom lack journalistic credentials and have gotten their jobs as a result of nepotism or inside connections, are all too often unable to ask insightful questions or are too timid to challenge nonsensical remarks. Hence, for example, Senator Rand Paul (R. KY) was allowed on CNN this past Saturday afternoon to argue the merits of a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution that he supports. His interviewer failed to challenge him as to how, if such an amendment were in effect during World War I, World War II, the Great Depression or the current Great Recession, the United States government could responded to such crises, since all required the need to raise revenue through deficit-spending and borrowing.
A similar problem exists in the print media. Aside from some serious efforts to discuss the current economic crises in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, USA Today, Rupert Murdoch's The Wall Street Journal. and the print media in most cities across the United States remain largely dominated by "Rotary Club Republicans" and business-friendly interests who unwilling to offend conventional wisdom.
There is plenty of blame to apportion in the current malaise, but when the history of this era is written it will also be clear that the citizens of the United States have been ill-served by their media. Instead of serious journalists committed to educating a public and creating an informed citizenry, the news media has been reduced to an "food fight" in which shrill, barely literate, uninformed propagandists have been permitted to hock the "snake oil" nostrums without challenge or criticism. Our public square has been impoverished as a consequence.
For decades now, the Republican media consultants, as chronicled by Roy Brock in his important book, The Republican Noise Machine, have sought to persuade ordinary Americans that the print and electronic media throughout the United States is dominated by liberals. For that reason, all news reports that propose to discuss the scientific basis of evolution, the existence of climate change, or which suggest that the current political system is dysfunctional should be dismissed. as evidence of liberal bias. The purpose of this consistent propaganda effort has been to inculcate a worldview that denies that there is any such thing as "objective reality" or fact-based information. In a world in n which all information has been reduced to that which one believes, one's subjective understanding of reality is as valid as anyone else's, and that the opinions of the ignoramus or village idiot are entitled to the same weight as the research of the scholar.
On an individual level, it is a sad fact that too many of American citizens lack the basic skills in reading, writing and comprehension to use language to communicate effectively or coherently. Few can read a newspaper such as The New York Times with good comprehension; fewer still read any newspapers or books at all.
By almost every indicator - whether measured by linguistic, scientific, historic, economic, geographic or legal literacy - Americans, as a people, fare poorly. We have become a "sound-bite" culture. The consequence of this pervasive illiteracy is that many American citizens cannot distinguish between a fact or an opinion, or distinguish myth from reality. In addition, the illiteracy of the American population creates a docile and easily manipulated public. At the political level, the inability to understand and to use language properly has created a vacuum into which slogans and cant have become substitutes for serious public discussion or analysis of issues.
When language is used imprecisely - or in a slovenly or cavalier manner - the underlying quality of thought is similarly compromised. The link between language and thought is explored in George Orwell's profound novel, 1984. In that seminal book, the central character, Winston Smith, works in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to help to create for the omnipresent tyranny which governs Oceana a new language, Newspeak. Newspeak is the ultimate language of control: Each year in the Ministry of Truth, thousands of words are eliminated. In addition, antonyms are collapsed into synonyms. Hence, "Freedom is slavery, "Ignorance is strength, "War is peace." As Orwell reminds us in the appendix to that novel, when one loses the capacity to use words correctly, one loses the capacity to think; when one loses the capacity to think, the ability to rebel or to imagine alternatives to the status quo is irrevocably extinguished.
The misuse of words impairs our ability to reason and to understand social reality. The deceptive or imprecise use of words denotes fallacious or imprecise thinking. When words are used as epithets for the purposes of ad hominem attacks, the intent of the author of the words is to elicit an emotional reaction and to thus foreclose the possibility of serious reflection or consideration by appealing to the listener's prejudices. Thus, during the past six decades as we have seen, the word "liberal" and a panoply of related synonyms such as "tax and spend," "death tax" and "government mandates" have been used by various politicians and media outlets to convey something sinister, while slogans such as "free enterprise," "individual rights" and the "American way" have been invoked to convey something wonderful and patriotic.
The calculated use of these words has been to persuade citizens to acquiesce to the roll-back of government regulation and programs in the public interest, and to thwart efforts to regulate heretofore unregulated entities such as hedge funds and financial instruments such as collateralized securities and debt obligations. By 2008, under the political cover provided by this linguistic subterfuge, the unrestrained pursuit of self-aggrandizement had precipitated a severe and prolonged fiscal crisis in the United States and throughout the world, the effects of which have continued to cripple the U.S. economy to the present.
This concerted campaign to roll back the modest government regulation introduced during the New Deal--which was designed to preserve market capitalism while attempting to insulate the public against its worst excesses--has been aided and abetted by the print and electronic media which, heavily dependent upon corporate investment and advertising, uncritically toe the party line. Given the decline of the print media, the broadcast media especially have been effective surrogates which promote a partisan political agenda.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the Fox Television Network, which claims to present "fair and balanced news," spews a stream of political propaganda and invective across the airwaves against those they depict as the enemies of American values. Besides the Fox Network, thousands of radio outlets across the United States routinely promote the partisan rhetoric of right-wing talk show hosts. They stridently espouse "traditional" American values of gun ownership, militarism, xenophobia, jingoism, and eighteenth century--i.e. liberal--notions of rugged individualism punctuated with appeals to pure avarice--"I've got mine, screw you."
While Fox and its right-wing friends may be the most obvious cases in point, the talking heads and presenters on the other twenty-four hour cable networks are equally culpable. Pleasant, vacuous, uninformed "presenters," many of whom lack journalistic credentials and have gotten their jobs as a result of nepotism or inside connections, are all too often unable to ask insightful questions or are too timid to challenge nonsensical remarks. Hence, for example, Senator Rand Paul (R. KY) was allowed on CNN this past Saturday afternoon to argue the merits of a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution that he supports. His interviewer failed to challenge him as to how, if such an amendment were in effect during World War I, World War II, the Great Depression or the current Great Recession, the United States government could responded to such crises, since all required the need to raise revenue through deficit-spending and borrowing.
A similar problem exists in the print media. Aside from some serious efforts to discuss the current economic crises in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, USA Today, Rupert Murdoch's The Wall Street Journal. and the print media in most cities across the United States remain largely dominated by "Rotary Club Republicans" and business-friendly interests who unwilling to offend conventional wisdom.
There is plenty of blame to apportion in the current malaise, but when the history of this era is written it will also be clear that the citizens of the United States have been ill-served by their media. Instead of serious journalists committed to educating a public and creating an informed citizenry, the news media has been reduced to an "food fight" in which shrill, barely literate, uninformed propagandists have been permitted to hock the "snake oil" nostrums without challenge or criticism. Our public square has been impoverished as a consequence.