The Dumbing Down of America - Here's Why

[tonyb]

... It's very illuminating to listen to broadcasts of "America's Town Meeting Of The Air," a weekly radio program that ran from the mid-thirties to the mid-fifties. Each week, representatives of various points of view were given an open microphone to address the topic of the week, with a period of open questioning from the audience to follow. The program was sternly moderated -- personal attacks on any speaker, speechifying from the audience, and any attempt to hijack the discussion were immediately and unapologetically quashed. Occasionally the comments would be heated, but for the most part, the discussions were reasonable, calm, dignified and respectful, with actual *discussion* of the topic instead of shouting and sloganeering. ...

It reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon of fairly recent (in the past couple-three years) vintage.

A bookstore operator, at the conclusion of an author reading, addresses the audience. The caption reads something to the effect of "Those wishing to make speeches disguised as questions for the author can form a line over here to my left."

 

[vitanola]

It was reported in the June 6, 1930 issue of Advertising Age that in the United States in 1929 total expenditures for advertising exceeded those for education for the first time.



That explains a great deal.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Screaming, hollering, and a motherload of tangent statistics are no substitute for deliberation regardless of how boring it may be.

Unfortunately, it's quite often the former that ultimately "wins" the debate nowadays. That's why I'm rather loathe to get into political discussions anymore.