On Thu, September 2, 2010 6:46 am, fons@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: > On Wed, Sep 01, 2010 at 06:11:53AM -0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote: > >> > * Reducing a complex social process to a simplistic conspiration >> theory. >> > >> >> Analysing a myriad of options to arrive at a place that I can work from >> and an angle I can confidently approach with gusto. > > What myriad of options ? I have no idea what you want to say here. > > What happens is a general dumbing down, of people refusing to think, > be critical and form well-informed opinions. And yes, some people have > an interest in this and do stimulate it, and a lot more just exploit it. > Why this phenomenon exists in society is not something that can be > explained in a few slogans. And if you reduce it to a 'conspiration > of music producers', that becomes just an example of the very dumbing > down itself. > >> > * Abusing ill-defined but suggestive terminology from Freudian >> psychology, >> > ('subconscious', 'mind', etc.) ignoring everything this science as >> > produced over the last 30 or so years. >> > >> >> What exactly have I ignored? Definitely not everything. > > Without going into the details: the idea that there is some part > of our mental activity ('the unconscious') that remains mysteriously > closed to ourselves but is open for others to 'manipulate' just > doesn't hold. You can't invoke 'the inconscious' as a magic wand > to explain aspects of people's behaviour. On the contrary, the > fact that we are not aware of some of our motivations needs > itself to be explained. > > Terminology such as 'the inconscious', 'the mind', etc. is so > vague that it is effectively useless. It seems to explain some > things, but that is an illusion. If used at all in modern psy- > chology such terms will be defined much more striclty, at which > point they lose their capacity to apparently explain things. > They just become words with an agreed-upon meaning, just as > 'table' or 'combustion engine'. > > As used in everyday parlance, they are just placeholders for > what is in fact a complete absence of understanding. Yet they > remain popular even with 'intellectuals', mainly those who > are into human sciences, who still worship Freud as a guru > and analysis as the ultimate therapy. One reason for this is > that Freud's work has literary qualities, apart from not > being completely without merit. He was after all the first > who at least *tried* a scientific approach. > So, your argument against the possibility of Pop music and mass media being used to control people is that the whole idea of being controlled subconsciously is a misnomer? Are you saying we can't be brain washed? Maybe my terminology is not 100% correct by the book but I think the general idea is being conveyed correctly. -- Patrick Shirkey Boost Hardware Ltd. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user