Posted on 11/12/2003 4:52:46 AM PST by Prov1322
TV has made nation complacent, Gore says By AMBER MCDOWELL, Associated Press November 12, 2003
NASHVILLE - The "quasi-hypnotic influence" of television in America has fostered a complacent nation that is a danger to democracy, former Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday.
Gore, speaking on "Media and Democracy" at Middle Tennessee State University, told attendees the decline of newspapers as the country's dominant method of communication leaves average Americans without an outlet for scholarly debate.
"Our democracy is suffering in an age when the dominant medium is not accessible to the average person and does not lend itself most readily to the conveyance of complex ideas about self-governance," Gore said. "Instead it pushes toward a lowest common denominator."
Gore said the results of that inaccessibility are reflected most prominently in the changed priorities of the country's elected officials, who feel that debating important issues is "relatively meaningless today. How do they spend their time instead? Raising money to buy 30-second television commercials."
Students and members of the community filled the 235-seat auditorium for Gore's appearance, and several hundred more watched his speech on a big-screen monitor set up in the building's lobby. It was the first of two lectures Gore has scheduled at MTSU as part of the "American Democracy Project for Civil Engagement," an effort to launch a national discussion on the "vigor of the national democracy."
Students at 200 college campuses across the country also watched Gore's speech via satellite, and asked the former vice president questions by calling a toll-free number.
Gore, who has taught several classes at MTSU, put on his professor's hat for much of the lecture, giving attendees a history lesson on the origins of communication and democracy - from the first evidence of complex speech 60,000 years ago to the invention of the printing press to the eventual evolution of media as it's known today and it's role in a free society.
Gore said democracy in America flourished at the height of the newspaper era, which "empowered the one to influence the many." That changed with the advent and subsequent popularity of television, he said, noting that the average American watches four hours of television a day.
"What does it do to us that has relevance to democracy? Does it encourage passivity? Is it connected to the obesity epidemic? ... If people are just staring at a little box four hours a day, it has a big impact on democracy," he said.
Gore said a remedy to television's dominance may the Internet, a "print-based medium that is extremely accessible to the average person."
"We have to choose to rehabilitate our democracy in part by making creative use of these new media and by insisting within the current institutions of our democracy that we open up access to the dominant medium," he said.
Gore's second speech is scheduled Nov. 25. Both appearances, sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and The New York Times, are part of MTSU's Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.
Copyright 2003, KnoxNews. All Rights Reserved.
Someone told him it was a nice place to visit, so he decided to check it out. Tipper, however, said, "Forget it, Al, I'm not going to some backwoods place to watch you deliver another stupid speech!"
Scholarly debate in a newspaper? A few days after their liberal drivel is printed as gospel they might occasionally deign to print a reader’s letter, selected by them, and that’s “scholarly debate”?
Only a tree like AlGore could see this as “scholarly debate”.
This is going to sound crazy, but I thought the way to educate yourself was through BOOKS and READING and THINKING and maybe some DEBATE.
I know that when I dropped out of college a few years ago after less than 1 semester I probably didn't make the smartest choice. However in that past 4 years I have given myself the self-education of a lifetime... John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, The Federalist Papers, David Boaz, F. A. Hayek, etc...
And to hear Gore talk about the complex ideas of self-governance makes me sick... this coming form the Vice President of the most Nanny State Executive Branch our generation has ever seen.
PISS OFF GORE! stupid wanker...
That "internet" thing you invented is solving that problem nicely.
Al Gore, however, is not likely motivated by a desire to elevate the level of political discourse. His motivation for giving a speech like this is likely two-fold: 1) convince people to watch his TV shows---you know, the TV shows made by (wink, wink) smart people, for (wink, wink) smart people. And 2) If his attempt to create a viable TV/media network fails, to lay the groundwork for a revival of the "Fairness" Doctrine---after all, if a (wink, wink) smart network can't make it, well, we'll just have to force our programs onto TV and radio, it's all getting too stupid without our (wink, wink) smart perspectives.
Al is simply playing to the Democrat superiority complex with this speech.
He hasn't seen our family in front of the TV (thankfully)! I'm a Rep and my husband is a dem. News like FNC encourages us to go at it, "discussing" the news of the day. My 18-year-old daughter often leaves us shaking her head and saying "not again." But she's aware that media coverage is not something you take as gospel and she knows how important it is to vote. The world is not necessarily like Gore describes it. But then that's no surprise. I don't think he inspired most people last election to think that he had his finger on the pulse of the people.
Won't argue with that.
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