Communication Theory Explains GOP control
-------by AverageJoe, Dec 28th, 2005,

There are two communication theories which, taken together, help explain why people in the United States continue to allow the Bush regime to remain in power. These theories are (1) Spiral of Silence and (2) Mean World Syndrome. Both involve abuse of the mass media.

Spiral of Silence is primarily tied to the "news" media. The American "news" media has been almost completely hijacked by massive corporations and their political arm, the GOP. This media drums out its basic message 24/7: Democrats are bad, Republicans are good, and Bush is GREAT.

Spiral of Silence suggests that people will remain silent in the face of what they perceive to be majority opinion. That is, even if a person believes Bush to be bad and wrong he will remain silent if he believes that the majority thinks Bush is good and correct. This leads to alienation and uncertainty among those who have doubts about Bush. Alienated, uncertain people have diminished capacity to dissent and are easier to control. Spiral of Silence has been used to help explain why the German people accepted nazi atrocities.

Mean World Syndrome is tied to both news and entertainment media. The corporate "news" media treat local crime stories (kidnapped children, missing women, etc.) as national crises and spend grossly inappropriate amounts of time and energy covering these stories. While it is correct for media to report crime, very often the stories with which the corporate media choose to saturate their "news" shows are of legitimate interest only to a specific community or region. The Lacey Peterson and Natalie Holloway stories demonstrate this beautifully.

The best example of entertainment media being used to further Mean World Syndrome among consumers is the Law and Order franchise. These shows do four basic things. First, they tell viewers that violent criminals are everywhere and can strike at any time. Second, they tell viewers that police officers always have the public's best interest at heart. Third, they tell viewers that criminal defense attorneys are almost always corrupt and wrong. Fourth, they tell viewers that criminal prosecutors always seek only truth and their only motivation is to protect society. Fifth, they tell viewers that it is okay for prosecutors to bend the rules in order to put the bad guys away--that the end justifies the means.

Mean World Syndrome suggests that people who watch a lot of television tend to think the world is a meaner place than it actually is. Heavy TV watchers tend to believe that the crime rate is much higher than it in fact is. They tend to believe that they are in much greater danger than they actually are. These people tend to stay inside more, to interact less with the real world. They become isolated, docile and easier to control.

Taken together, these theories explain what can best be described as a massive Corporate terrorist attack on the American psyche. They make one segment of the population afraid to speak their minds and another segment of the population afraid of being brutalized unless the government uses every means--legal and ethical or not--to keep the "bad guys" away.

The Bush regime is a cancer on the world, but the greatest threat to American democracy does not reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Bush is just one of the TV stars that helps keep us in line for the corporations.

I find it amazing that people think terrorism is a greater threat to our way of life than the mass media.

Terror means nothing if you aren't frightened. Terrorists can blow all the shit up, and all the people up they want, until they get caught, anyway, and still affect absolutely nothing if people just shrug their shoulders and get on with life. That is exactly what I did when I saw the towers go down. So a few thousand people died. Big deal. So we gotta rebuild another commerce center. Big deal.

I just sighed, said, "These people never give up, do they?" saw that there was absolutely nothing I could do, and went in my room to play video games.

If that had been America's response, there would never be another terror attack on the United States ever again. Shrug your shoulders, say, "Shit happens," and get on with life. It completely destroys any reason at all anybody would do such childish shit.

Originally posted by Napsterbater
So a few thousand people died. Big deal. So we gotta rebuild another commerce center. Big deal......... I just sighed, said, "These people never give up, do they?" saw that there was absolutely nothing I could do, and went in my room to play video games.........If that had been America's response, there would never be another terror attack on the United States ever again.

I see it differently.

The People of this country exibiting indifference to terrorist attacks would have little effect on the underlying motivations of the terrorists.

The terrorists attacks were blowback.

The terrorists were --quite simply-- motivated by the American government's aggression and imperialism.....and by the American government's actions bringing about the deaths of many hundrds of thousands of people in the Middle East........a great many of whom were children.

When Americans --as a people-- stop supporting the type of (Corporatist) government that exports imperialism and aggression, THEN the terrorists will stop attacking........and not before.

The fear-mongering is not done by terrorists. It is done by those who make out the attacks to be far more than they are. If we stop giving a damn, the fear-mongering won't be effective anymore. Then people will pick leaders that do more for the people instead of for their own best interests. Then the government stops using policies that elicit terrorism from desperate third-world nations.

Originally posted by Napsterbater
The fear-mongering is not done by terrorists. It is done by those who make out the attacks to be far more than they are. If we stop giving a damn, the fear-mongering won't be effective anymore. Then people will pick leaders that do more for the people instead of for their own best interests. Then the government stops using policies that elicit terrorism from desperate third-world nations.

I agree... the terrorists are kind of like that guy in a chat room that comes in and types nothing but "your mom" jokes and cusses everyone out... if you ignore them, they go away.

The thing is... the media gives them FRONT PAGE STATUS... so there is no chance in hell that is happening.

I hate to tell you guys ......but ........the Islamo fascists .......are not going away.

Wake up.


Slim

Originally posted by slim
I hate to tell you guys ......but ........the Islamo fascists .......are not going away.

Wake up.

I am far more worried about what your pals the ConservaFascists are going to perpetrate on this nation than I am any Islamic person or group.

[p.s.---------Michael Savage coined the phrase "Islamo-fascists". It is an oxymoron of the first order. The religion of Islam has virtually nothing about it that relates it to fascism. The person that invented fascism, Benito Mussolini, noted that ""Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power."" The merging of State and Corporate power is EXACTLY what has occurred here in the U.S. under your friends the Conservatives.........or, more properly, the ConservaFascists)

Wake up.

I hate to tell you guys ......but ........the Islamo fascists .......are not going away.

Sounds like the boogeyman to me. I'm not afraid.