Apparently you have the belief, common among many members of the educated classes, that most people are semi-sentient beings, clay in the hands of their clever masters and manipulators. I don't share this view. I think that in the main, on issues where people have first hand information and where it counts, they make rational decisions by and large. Actually, I don't know of really solid evidence that advertising does work (all that well) -- especially when you don't have a decent product. Consider the US auto industry, for example . . . .
I think you overlook the key difference between whatever stories Fox or whomever told about bin Ladin and about Dean. Bin Laden people don't know from nothin. Dean people have got to see up close and fairly personal in their living rooms and such -- I mean at the caucuses and in the primaries. ANd they didn't like him. He had huge negatives, more so than other candidates
I suppose you will say that is because the press atacked him because they were afraid that his insurgent campaign might threaten the balance of power, and if the press had been neutral or friendly, he'd still be front runner. I am not sure how to resolve this controversy given the tools we have and the time we have to put into it. So I will just note our fundamental disagreement, as to how susceptible ordinary people are to brainwashing by the media in matters where they have other information.
jks
--- T Fast <tfast at yorku.ca> wrote:
>
> Hey if advertising did not work do you think they
> would use it. Remarkable
> confluence between Fox's Iraq = Bin and their
> viewer's belief it was so.
> Mind you not all, but enough to get the JOB done.
>
> Travis
>
>
> > What I particularly like is the assumption that
> people
> > are total idiots incapaple of making up their
> minds
> > for themselves and utter pwns od the media. jks
> >
> >
> > --- Thomas Seay <entheogens at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > --- Charles Brown <cbrown at michiganlegal.org>
> wrote:
> > > > Death of Dean
> > > > The awesome destructive power of corporate
> media
> > >
> > > > Howard Dean has joined the list of victims of
> U.S.
> > > > corporate media
> > > > consolidation. Dean shares this distinction
> with
> > > > Dennis Kucinich and the
> > > > people of the formerly sovereign state of
> Iraq,
> > > > among many others.
> > >
> > > Well, of course, I agree that the corporate
> media is
> > > awesome and destructive, but the Black
> Commentator
> > > statement implies that the media was in this
> case
> > > politically motivated to bring about the debacle
> of
> > > Dean. Up until a few weeks before Iowa he was
> all
> > > over the media and in a positive light; it
> seemed to
> > > be the Iowa Caucus that brought him down and
> THEN
> > > his "I have a scream" speech which provided the
> > > material for
> > > a media event. The media focused on that for a
> > > week,
> > > because it had nothing better to do.
> > > In other words, I agree that the media had
> something
> > > to do with the debacle of Howard Dean but it
> seems
> > > like it came about more because Dean gave them a
> > > spectacle than because they had a political axe
> to
> > > grind.
> > >
> > > Maybe you only extracted part of the article and
> > > there
> > > was better substantiation for this claim.
> > >
> > > -Thomas
> > >
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