[ExI] The Rationality of Belief is Relative

[Dan]

--- On Thu, 5/21/09, Olga Bourlin <fauxever at sprynet.com> wrote:
>> We must be careful about judging what amounts to
>> another world by present day Western standards.
> 
> Certainly, and I am aware that I AM judging by present day
> Western standards (furthermore, I realize that even today
> there are "another worlds" out there on our planet).

And those Western standards have changed over time.  For instance, slavery was commonplace in the West for a long time, but slowly eroded, as an institution and accepted practice, eventually becoming anathema in the West and now most of the world.
 
> We were discussing the influence of television (the
> Internet, etc.) on humans.
> 
> And I say - television, back when it was the cool new
> medium - did much to foster cultural development, both among
> the "educated," as well as the "not-so-educated."

I'm not so sure there's a simple answer here.  Yes, TV probably did have an impact on reducing racism -- by showing Blacks being oppressed by the police.  However, this took place in a culture where such oppression, though tolerated, was both on the wane and only seems to have been accepted when it was kept off the air.  In this case, perhaps the lesson is that putting these images on TV helped to reinforce the conventional morality -- which, in America, was one where people being beaten for merely peaceably marching in the streets was wrong.

But think of how the mainstream media today portrays a lot of anti-government protests -- demostrators are often portrayed as lawless and the police as agents of peace.  Think also how the totalitarian movements of the last century used media to mobilize mass support.

Regards,

Dan