Broadcasting stupidity

Two things of note that fall under this headline:

First, the National Association of Broadcasters is seeking legislation that would require all portable electronic devices to include FM radio. I assume this extends to cell phones, music players and the like. But as posters point out, will it extend to electric razors? And what about AM radio? This is such an obvious ploy for Congressional action to ensure the dominance and relevance of an existing medium - its scary in its overtness. Not that all that many people listen to FM radio any more, what with Pandora, digital music, HD radio and satellite radio. If this passes, I might have to stop listening to FM radio.

The second I have to kinda shoe-horn in. I fully support the right of Muslims to build a mosque/community center at the old Burlington Coat Factory two blocks from Ground Zero. I also support those who oppose the plans to criticize the plan and oppose it, as long as the opposition includes newspaper columns and protests and not government action, which should/would be barred. I even have mixed feelings about whether the plan is appropriate. But I think that you are generally broadcasting your stupidity if you rely on the constitution or religious freedoms to support your argument.

See, I told you they both fit the headline.

Stupid stories

I thought maybe this story on digital drugs was the worst thing I had seen in a while, having managed to make a mountain out of a mole hill all while also being late to the party; however, then I came across this little jem about a city fining a lady for picking up an air conditioner off the street (with permission).

The death of society by technology has been greatly exaggerated

I'm kinda a contrarian by my nature. I know that.

I wouldn't say I'm cynical, I'm actually pretty trusting. Almost to a fault. But I love when the facts and logic of a situation play out differently than the emotion or "common wisdom."

And I usually enjoy shouting it from the rooftops. Which doesn't always make me a great person with which to have a conversation. But I think its what drew me to news and reporting. At least in part. Also, I like to laugh at stupid people.

So, with this in mind, here is another contrarian posting that aims to dispute the "good old days of yore" meme and the idea that the world is falling apart, largely thanks to technology.

- Socrates warned his fellow man against writing (writing!). He thought it would "create forgetfulness in the learners' souls."
- He also thought (perhaps properly) that children couldn't tell fiction from reality, so he suggested that parents never tell them created stories and rely instead on stories from real life.

Wait, it gets better
- Conrad Gessner warned against the modern world and how it the overwhelmed people with information. He suggested this information overload caused confusion and damage to the mind. He died in 1565.
- A frenchman (0f course, right?) - Malesherbes - warned that getting news from the printed page would isolate readers. It was more uplifting, he thought, to get your news from the pulpit. This is the same newspapers that today are held as bastions of civilized society and whose demise is heralded as the end of the world by some.
- Even schools have been targeted, with some early studies suggesting that organized schooling exhausted children's brains and nervous systems
- Excessive studying was once thought to cause madness.

Its the same, but worse , from there on out. Radio is the dirge of a well-0rdered society ... TV will destroy the nice, wholesome radio-based community ... the internet will crush the wisdom we have all gotten from the TV.

Its worth noting that early worriers thought "Email hurts IQ more than pot." That's a Daily Telegraph headline, not National Enquirer headline.

So, next time someone laments the "shortened attention spans" created by TV, the internet, or the InterGoogle, or whatever is next, keep in mind that no studies show this to be the case. In fact, according to this slate.com article, not only does the evidence not suggest this, it actually suggests the opposite. Technology is making our lives better, with social networking sites providing better better offline social lives and video games allowing players to better absorb inforamtion information without a loss of accuracy.

And don't forget the studies showing that television viewing doesn't have a negative impact on our health. Or our ability to... um, wait, its on the tip of my tongue... if only I had been able to avoid schooling I could probably remem... of yeah, our ability to concentrate.

These fears about the ever increasing media, often fueled by the existing media, are exactly the reason why media isn't implicitly worth saving.

1) We are almost always better off with the new media
2) if the best you've got is "fear this new thing," we are better off without you.

That reminds me of the college acquitance acquaintance who was sure the internet was merely going to be a phase or trend. This was circa 1999, so it wasn't quite as crazy then.

Nah, it was just as crazy then.

We are all as dumb, and smart, as the next guy & gal

From Zogby, via Reason: 72% of the country thinks the American public is not politically engaged and doesn't follow political news closely. Only 15% think the public is informed about national politics.

Ok, we're going good so far.

Here's where it gets a little weird. A full 85% report that they personally follow the news closely. So, 85% closely follow the news, something that would be news to the other 72% .

This is exactly why I'm Libertarian. We all think the other guy is an idiot barely capable of caring for himself. The answer for some is to provide that care - that care being our set of values or restrictions, regardless of whether they want it or like it. Its for the idiots own best interest, after all.

We'd all do well to remember that that idiot is us.