KMFJD
Lifer
Was reading this article and thought it was an interesting read and worth a share:
What do you think happened to America to bring about a President like Trump?
So this is going to sound really silly but hear me out.
The person responsible for Donald Trump is actually someone I used to watch on television, someone who I respected a great deal for his levelheaded analysis and complex understanding on many topics important to Americans; a man who was trying to give the average man and woman a voice in public affairs of importance. His name, which some of you will know, is Phil Donahue.
Prior to Donahue, Americans would sit and watch television as a passive audience. We listened and sometimes formed opinions but we were not given a public voice, a platform for our often ignorant ideas. In many ways, this was good. A layman often knows nothing about the complexity of mathematics, physics, economics, philosophy, etc., and without some significant time and effort is generally incapable of grasping them. Consequently, the people provided a public platform to discuss topics were people who were knowledgeable in their fields and, because the rest of us were not given the opportunity to talk on those topics (because we really knew nothing about them), we listened and learned.
Then Donahue came along and did what seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. Having heard an audience member call out something in contradiction to one of his guests, he went to the person and gave him (or her, I cannot exactly recall) the opportunity to publicly disagree. Now, to his great credit, Donahue did not merely accept what his audience members said, he would artfully point out their ignorance, or give the guest the opportunity to respond and explain why they were incorrect. The Donahue show was a civil setting for discourse, at least in the beginning - and the new technique, which was the beginning of reality television, improved the ratings. Why? Because Joe Blow finally felt like he was being given the opportunity that only those with actual knowledge, the experts, were given before - Joe and Josephine Blow now had a public forum. They were also given the opportunity for fame.
Suddenly, anyone could obtain a little fame, with no qualifications or accountability, for the ignorant things they might say publicly through the medium of television. Soon, others caught on to the new way of being famous, and the silly desire to be noticed caused large numbers of people to begin saying something, anything, no matter how ridiculous, to get their fifteen minutes. Eventually, Donahue’s audience members were standing up and disagreeing solely for the purpose of getting noticed, not because they even cared about the topic. Of course, despite Donahue’s best efforts, there wasn’t time in the soundbite setting Donahue provided to root out the idiots and explain their ignorance. Moreover, part of the “fun” (and increased ratings) of the show became watching Phil run from one person to the next and seeing his expressions of exasperation at things they might say. Consequently, Joe and Josephine began receiving just as much voice (and air time) as the experts and without any time for logical refutation. The average person, having no special understanding or knowledge, was now heard by the millions watching from home, even more than the expert guests who actually knew what they were talking about.
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-t...out-a-President-like-Trump/answer/Martin-Veil
What do you think happened to America to bring about a President like Trump?
So this is going to sound really silly but hear me out.
The person responsible for Donald Trump is actually someone I used to watch on television, someone who I respected a great deal for his levelheaded analysis and complex understanding on many topics important to Americans; a man who was trying to give the average man and woman a voice in public affairs of importance. His name, which some of you will know, is Phil Donahue.
Prior to Donahue, Americans would sit and watch television as a passive audience. We listened and sometimes formed opinions but we were not given a public voice, a platform for our often ignorant ideas. In many ways, this was good. A layman often knows nothing about the complexity of mathematics, physics, economics, philosophy, etc., and without some significant time and effort is generally incapable of grasping them. Consequently, the people provided a public platform to discuss topics were people who were knowledgeable in their fields and, because the rest of us were not given the opportunity to talk on those topics (because we really knew nothing about them), we listened and learned.
Then Donahue came along and did what seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. Having heard an audience member call out something in contradiction to one of his guests, he went to the person and gave him (or her, I cannot exactly recall) the opportunity to publicly disagree. Now, to his great credit, Donahue did not merely accept what his audience members said, he would artfully point out their ignorance, or give the guest the opportunity to respond and explain why they were incorrect. The Donahue show was a civil setting for discourse, at least in the beginning - and the new technique, which was the beginning of reality television, improved the ratings. Why? Because Joe Blow finally felt like he was being given the opportunity that only those with actual knowledge, the experts, were given before - Joe and Josephine Blow now had a public forum. They were also given the opportunity for fame.
Suddenly, anyone could obtain a little fame, with no qualifications or accountability, for the ignorant things they might say publicly through the medium of television. Soon, others caught on to the new way of being famous, and the silly desire to be noticed caused large numbers of people to begin saying something, anything, no matter how ridiculous, to get their fifteen minutes. Eventually, Donahue’s audience members were standing up and disagreeing solely for the purpose of getting noticed, not because they even cared about the topic. Of course, despite Donahue’s best efforts, there wasn’t time in the soundbite setting Donahue provided to root out the idiots and explain their ignorance. Moreover, part of the “fun” (and increased ratings) of the show became watching Phil run from one person to the next and seeing his expressions of exasperation at things they might say. Consequently, Joe and Josephine began receiving just as much voice (and air time) as the experts and without any time for logical refutation. The average person, having no special understanding or knowledge, was now heard by the millions watching from home, even more than the expert guests who actually knew what they were talking about.
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-t...out-a-President-like-Trump/answer/Martin-Veil
