The Assault on Reason

By Al Gore

"American democracy is now in danger — not from any one set of ideas, but from unprecedented changes in the environment within which ideas either live and spread, or wither and die. I do not mean the physical environment; I mean what is called the public sphere, or the marketplace of ideas.

"It is simply no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse. I know I am not alone in feeling that something has gone fundamentally wrong. In 2001, I had hoped it was an aberration when polls showed that three-quarters of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on Sept. 11. More than five years later, however, nearly half of the American public still believes Saddam was connected to the attack ...

"While American television watchers were collectively devoting 100 million hours of their lives each week to these and other similar stories, our nation was in the process of more quietly making what future historians will certainly describe as a series of catastrophically mistaken decisions on issues of war and peace, the global climate and human survival, freedom and barbarity, justice and fairness. For example, hardly anyone now disagrees that the choice to invade Iraq was a grievous mistake. Yet, incredibly, all of the evidence and arguments necessary to have made the right decision were available at the time and in hindsight are glaringly obvious ...

"Radio, the Internet, movies, cell phones, iPods, computers, instant messaging, video games and personal digital assistants all now vie for our attention—but it is television that still dominates the flow of information. According to an authoritative global study, Americans now watch television an average of 4 hours and 35 minutes every day—90 minutes more than the world average. When you assume eight hours of work a day, six to eight hours of sleep and a couple of hours to bathe, dress, eat and commute, that is almost three-quarters of all the discretionary time the average American has.

"In the world of television, the massive flows of information are largely in only one direction, which makes it virtually impossible for individuals to take part in what passes for a national conversation. Individuals receive, but they cannot send. They hear, but they do not speak. The 'well-informed citizenry' is in danger of becoming the 'well-amused audience.' Moreover, the high capital investment required for the ownership and operation of a television station and the centralized nature of broadcast, cable and satellite networks have led to the increasing concentration of ownership by an ever smaller number of larger corporations that now effectively control the majority of television programming in America.

"In practice, what television's dominance has come to mean is that the inherent value of political propositions put forward by candidates is now largely irrelevant compared with the image-based ad campaigns they use to shape the perceptions of voters. The high cost of these commercials has radically increased the role of money in politics—and the influence of those who contribute it. That is why campaign finance reform, however well drafted, often misses the main point: so long as the dominant means of engaging in political dialogue is through purchasing expensive television advertising, money will continue in one way or another to dominate American politics. And as a result, ideas will continue to play a diminished role. That is also why the House and Senate campaign committees in both parties now search for candidates who are multimillionaires and can buy the ads with their own personal resources ..."

TIME Magazine

Lid dip to Baz le Tuff.

Categories: television, usa

Obama the Interventionist

"America must 'lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good.' With those words, Barack Obama put an end to the idea that the alleged overexuberant idealism and America-centric hubris of the past six years is about to give way to a new realism, a more limited and modest view of American interests, capabilities and responsibilities.

"Obama's speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs last week was pure John Kennedy, without a trace of John Mearsheimer. It had a deliberate New Frontier feel, including some Kennedy-era references ('we were Berliners') and even the Cold War-era notion that the United States is the 'leader of the free world.' No one speaks of the 'free world' these days, and Obama's insistence that we not 'cede our claim of leadership in world affairs' will sound like an anachronistic conceit to many Europeans, who even in the 1990s complained about the bullying 'hyperpower.' In Moscow and Beijing it will confirm suspicions about America's inherent hegemonism. But Obama believes the world yearns to follow us, if only we restore our worthiness to lead ...

"Obama wants to increase defense spending. He wants to add 65,000 troops to the Army and recruit 27,000 more Marines. Why? To fight terrorism."

Categories: usa, terrorism, military

Fraser slams Howard over fear politics

Australia: "Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has accused the Howard government of 'fear politics', damaging the Australian psyche and fuelling intolerance that could take decades to stamp out.

"Mr Fraser used his Commonwealth Lecture at the Australian National University to mount a scathing attack on Prime Minister John Howard.

"The former Liberal leader said there had been a concerted attack on Australian values and the rule of law since the arrival of the Tampa, carrying more than 400 refugees, shortly before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the US.

"The government had seized on those events to demonise refugees and stoke tensions in the community about Muslim migration.

"'From these points on, the politics of fear dominated the domestic environment,' Mr Fraser said.

"'What we do not know we often fear. What we do not understand we fear.

"'People from a different religion we often fear. And what we fear becomes a threat.

"'The politics of these issues was exploited by the government and has bitten deeply into the Australian psyche ...'"
The Age

Categories: australia, john+howard, refugees, islam