The downward spiral of public discourse

From print to radio to television to social media memes in just over a century

“ The medium is the message.”

Marshall McLuhan, communications theorist

Such rapid transformations in communication mediums, as witnessed just within our lifetime, cannot occur without any noticeable impact on the quality of our public discourse, or at the very least, an adaptation period to overcome the hurdles linked to these important shifts.

I think it goes without saying.

We could even argue that adaptation won’t suffice to prevent all the negative implications to come or already suffered thus far. This fast paced technological progression that lead to today’s information ecosystem, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, has more often than not reduced essential discussions in society to a battle of memes and short lived, limited in characters, punch lines on social media.

Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the creative ability behind a good meme, capturing the essence of a social idea or cultural symbol as well as the distillation of a complex situation into an easily digestible snapshot. That being said, we can surely all agree that a deep understanding of complex issues cannot be achieved through memes alone and that the immediate satisfaction (stemming from a possible viral effect on social media for example) will never translate in any meaningful public discussion that can eventually lead to a balanced evaluation or thoughtful analysis.

Our regular disappointments and frustrations with the outputs of the political process is at stake and is directly related to this carnavalesque mood we all seem to be living in at times.

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Intellectual desert

Travel back to 19th century America and you will find presidential candidates for example arguing political philosophy and public policy in long format written dissertations or speeches that lasted hours in front of attentive crowds. Going from this form of public discussion to the current state of affairs has inevitably brought some form of decay in the quality, depth and even validity of our decision-making abilities, especially in the present day political sphere.

Without blindly romanticizing the politics of the past, for it always triggered some of the worst characteristics of human nature, it remains obvious that intellectual discourse in our society has been watered down to a worrisome level. It begs to wonder if our present political class would have the perspective or intellectual capacity to generate the founding documents and principles underlying our western countries today. In reality, their lack of political elevation might explain why they are only capable of micro-managing every aspect of our lives.

In popular culture, most have noticed a reduction in our attention span, among citizens in general and kids in particular who were raised in a world of continuous access to information. From trivial information such as phone numbers to more substantive knowledge, few feel the need to develop their memory anymore.

In a 1985 book, only 30 years or so removed from the cultural advent of television and decades before the explosion of internet use, cell phones and social media, Neil Postman sent a clear warning of the incoming risks of Amusing ourselves to death, as prophetically titled in his work.

His basic argument was that Aldous Huxley’s dystopian future would prevail over George Orwell’s vision. Society, he argued, would tumble into an entertainment based and shallow information ecosystem. Thus rendering real serious public discourse virtually impossible.

“ What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.”

Neil Postman, cultural critic and media theorist

Postman hit this one right on the nail almost 40 years ago and this show business trend has only reached new heights since then.

Nobody among my readers will be surprised that I indirectly promote, notably through my articles, that more of us should be taking the time, within our busy schedules, to read more books. Not only reading more books but a variety of them - novels and non-fiction - with an emphasis on classics in order to take voluntary actions to slow down our information intake and self-manage this technological spiral.

Reading short posts, glancing over news titles or looking at memes on Twitter does not constitute “reading” technically speaking. It is not being presumptuous to make such a claim. We are living in the equivalent of a news and informational “particle accelerator” that leaves us more often than not incapable of contextualizing anything if we don’t rekindle an appreciation for some meaningful reading.

The exponential development of information mediums have rendered our analytical minds very lazy to say the least. And the increased access, immediacy and specialization trends killed in a sense our holistic view of the world.

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Rediscovering the essence of education

Who do we generally look up to ? What kind of people are capable of transcending the mundane aspects of our lives to elevate our sights and infuse meaning in our otherwise boring daily lives ?

Highly specialized individuals in their fields describing the world through the narrow lens of their very specific expertise or thinkers capable of integrating knowledge from multiple fields that bring people to transcend their understanding of life ?

A few generations ago, the chosen few that had a chance to get a decent education went through a curriculum that went through languages, classics, history, geography, political philosophy, etc. All of which elevated the student into a more holistic and balanced understanding of the world.

Culture générale, as it was often referred to in French, is in decline and not even idealized as it should in our society today. When not directly mocked by some casual observer or indirectly frowned upon by others who do not see the added value in investing time and money into a more classical education where the humanities - in its most noble form - are transmitted to the next generation.

Nowadays, a reliance in experts has replaced our reliance in ourselves, in our sound judgement. Deferring decisions to the elites has replaced the value behind an autonomous sense making reflex.

What happened to intellectual effort, curiosity and the art of debate ? Since when questioning and doubting has become a suspicious characteristic for a citizen ? It sure seems these days like a compliant citizenry has more value than an educated one.

In his book In defense of a liberal education, Fareed Zakaria succinctly captured the essence of what a liberal education or a degree in the humanities can bring to a citizenry. Something that has been disregarded recently with an unfortunate tendency to silence people across college campuses. On a sound liberal education, Zakaria wrote:

“ … it teaches you how to learn. I now realize that what I gained from college and graduate school, far more lasting than any specific set of facts or piece of knowledge, has been the understanding of how to acquire knowledge on my own.

I learned how to read an essay closely, search for new sources, find data to prove or disprove an hypothesis, and detect an author’s prejudices. I learned how to read a book fast and still gets its essence.

I learned to ask questions, present an opposing view, take notes, and, nowadays, watch speeches, lectures, and interviews as they stream across my computer.

And most of all, I learned that learning was a pleasure - a great adventure of exploration.”

Fareed Zakaria, foreign policy adviser and journalist

Again, I reassert my hope with this newsletter, and more conversations from podcasts down the road, to actively participate in a community of readers, writers and citizen thinkers interested in a more profound understanding of the world, all while having a high dose of humility in the process.

In the end, we might just reverse in the process, at least so slightly, this downward spiral in public discourse.

Until next time, keep reading on !

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