• by Jeff Einstein , November 8, 2004

I am very disheartened by the ad hominem nature of the sour grapes expressed by many media professionals and media literacy professors in response to the recent election. From what I have witnessed, heard, and read, the general consensus among blue-state liberals (and liberals who happen to live in red states) is that the Kerry loss somehow amounted to nothing less than an intellectual denouement, a cultural concession to a couch potato mentality, and a wholesale surrender to backwoods inbreeding and Bible-stomping hellfire.

Many of the more offensive complaints suggest that it is now and forevermore the mandate of the blue-state lovers to take it upon themselves to educate the uncouth, unwashed, unintelligent masses whose inability to discern obvious fact from fiction just bought us another four years of George W. Bush. This suggestion bothers me for two reasons:

1. It represents the height of hubris and disingenuous arrogance. It seeks to disguise our own not-so-enlightened self interest as heartfelt concern for the common man, the same guy we then pillory for the re-election of George W. (right after we try to sell him another SUV he neither needs nor wants). We wrap our mercenary selves in the flag like scoundrels, then complain when no one listens.

2. It won't work. Media do not educate us. Quite the contrary: Media are a powerful class of narcotic. Media numb us as we consume them and render us passive and impotent the moment we stop.

Contrary to the conclusion of many media literacy professors, the antidote to bad programming is not more programming, no matter how good or how well-intended. Albert Einstein once observed that no problem can be solved by the same thinking that created the problem. We are not where we are because 51 percent of us are obsessed with the wrong programming. We don't watch less TV when our favorite programs get cancelled any more than we stop using drugs when our neighborhood dealer gets pinched. We find new programs and new dealers to satisfy our habits. We are where we are because we are addicted to the media. More programming of any kind reinforces that addiction.

Each successive election represents a more detailed study of the issues that divide us, more detailed simply because we have more and more bandwidth to fill every four years. The more detailed the discussion, the more experts we deploy, the less we seem to know at the end of the day, not only about the issues, but about ourselves as well.

I would therefore like to suggest that we take the opportunity now to put the election behind us, that we put aside discussion of the things and issues that divide us just long enough to examine instead what we all have in common. I see two reasonable places to start our journey of self-discovery:

1. Despite the rancor, despite the acrimony, despite the ever-escalating ill will, despite the polarization, perceived and real, we still live in a nation where we have the right to vote our conscience -- however misguided. I would therefore suggest that this alone is common cause for gratitude, and that we begin our dialogue anew each day with gratitude for the fact that we can do so without undue fear of reprisal for what we say and believe. Gratitude is the key to constructive dialogue, and it must precede everything else. Likewise, everything else must reflect our daily renewal of gratitude. Otherwise, everything else moves from blessing to burden faster than we can change channels or block pop-ups.

2. We are all bound by our common obsession with and addiction to the media. No amount of media savvy, no amount of intellectual firepower inures us to the narcotic effects of the media. Media addiction is a non-partisan pathology, with no regard whatsoever for demographics of any sort. As Dr. Phil (a man who truly understands the power and place of media in today's society) would say, we cannot change what we do not acknowledge. The professional and academic media communities are neck-deep in media addiction and denial. Contrary to what our behavior would indicate, the answer to diminishing returns on investment in the quality of our lives is neither increased media tonnage nor improved programming.

Your thoughts?

Many thanks, as always, and best to you and yours...

Please note: The Einstein's Corner discussion group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/einsteinscorner/ is dedicated to exploring the adverse effects of our addictions to technology and media on the quality of our lives, both at work and at home. Please feel free to drop by and join the discussion.