Re: MD Why Anyone Who Thinks the "Media" is (Left/Right) Should Go

From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 18 2005 - 18:58:30 BST

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    [Arlo previously]
    The real goal should be to start here. To examine how and why language is being
    manipulated to control the people (or at the least control the direction of
    their critical gaze).

    [Erin replied]
    It just struck me how much this reminds me of Pirsig's definition of
    intellectual level.......the manipulation of symbols....controlling the social
    level

    I'm not really sure how you think any communication is not a manipulation of
    language?

    [Arlo]
    An excellent question, Erin. And the answer, I'd propose, lies in the
    amalgamation of sources. That is, to depend on one news channel, or one news
    reporter, is low Quality. Especially when that said singular source is chosen
    based on its reification of one's own prejudices, whatever political
    orientation these prejudices may inclinate one towards.

    That all symbolic representation is a manipulation of experience is undeniable.
    I am reminded of Magritte's "The False Mirror", which resonates perfectly with
    Pirsig's "figure sorting sand" talk in ZMM.

    That we communicate to exert power over others is one possible, perhaps
    Bourdieuian, point of view. Some argue that any communication is an attempt to
    create shared activity, which is a slightly more egalitarian view. This is why
    we should always be critical, not just of "news", but of all habituated
    activity and cultural structures (since, as I've said, we are never so blind
    except by that which we expect to see, is why I value cultural diversity,
    without it we may never see "the green flash"). Or, put another way, we should
    be critical (deconstructive) of all static patterns, whether they be social or
    intellectual.

    Arlo

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