Whats Ouch in Social Commentary?
Peter Byrne’s views and mine generally coincide, but his latest assertion (The Byrne Report, “Marketing War,” April 11) jostled me some. He claims that we the people “have been psychologically conditioned to accept unpardonable acts of violence as moral imperatives.” He is implying, as I see it, that we are made of vastly impressionable emotional and intellectual plastic, and so are easily molded by a fiendishly clever media and governmental and war propaganda programs, which is why violence and war are endemic. World history, however, suggests that the first resort of humans everywhere when confronted by social problems is the assertion of power (“I’ll teach you to talk back to me,” “Kill the infidel,” etc.). In other words, especially adroit propaganda isn’t needed. We bring a readiness to accept and employ violent acts along with us when we look at, listen to or read anything. I wish Byrne was right, actually. Solving world violence problems by changing media programming would be so
Whats Ouch in Social Commentary?