On Tue, 3 Oct 2000 18:43:24 EDT JessEcoh at cs.com wrote:
> doug wrote:
>
> > I don't think you need psa to make SZ's point here: that polls
> > measure things within (and by doing so, reinforce) existing
> > parameters of discourse, while real political leaders and movements
> > can change those parameters. Ever get called by a pollster and try to
> > fit yourself into their categories? It feels like intellectual
> > violence.
> "change the parameters" would make a good fighting slogan.
Doug, I recall that you once said that "the media can't tell you want to think, but can tell you what to think about." Polls work the same way, it seems to me. Which, ironically, is the point (so far) in Jonathan Lear's book Happiness, Death and the Remainder of Life --> Aristotle can't tell us what happiness is, but does "inject" a concern for happiness into our living and understanding of what that means (happiness is an "enigmatic signifier").
I'm reminded of a friend who wrote a paper on Marcuse... who was asked a question: So... what does Marcuse mean by happiness?" The, rather clever if you ask me, response: "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands?"
ken