Monday, July 20, 1998
Commercialism reduces society to one-dimension
PHILOSOPHY: People lose ability to think critically as advancing technology commands attention
Reading the written thoughts of dead philosopher-types often poses a serious threat to one's mental well-being. Philosophers seem to enjoy torturing those who attempt to comprehend the concepts their sadistic minds devise. Their most lethal tools include wordiness and excessive abstraction. It often seems that the conception of a philosophical idea burns out so many brain cells in a person that when writing the thought down, sentences somehow end up in a tangle of words.
Do these philosophical abstractions have a place in the tangible world? I think so, therefore I am. What one sees and hears and understands in this God-forsaken world often depends on what perspective one uses. For example, there are people out there who see the world with an over-active libido. Therefore, things that seem perfectly mundane to you or me become weird phallic images to those with this world view.
So what sorts of ideas oozed out of my head as I looked up at a "Got Milk?" poster a few weeks ago? I thought of a dead philosopher fellow named Herbert Marcuse and his concept of the one-dimensional man. (A kind, socialist, political science professor introduced me to Marcuse several years ago. The most shocking thing about this is that I actually retained some information.)
"Got Milk?" the sign asked.
Why, no, I don't. What do you expect from a family of lactose-intolerant individuals? (My apologies to all the lactose in the world. Lactose is also known as milk sugar and is a perfectly acceptable treat - if you can digest it.) This ad in and of itself has no direct connection to Marcuse, but it gave birth to a multitude of commercials that illustrate Marcuse's fears that through advances in technology our society and the people within it will become one-dimensional.
Marcuse warns us that technology in the form of the media dictates what clothes we should wear, what food we should eat and what things we should do. Technology serves as an instrument that spreads values, norms and beliefs through commercials, movies and television shows.
This trend of technology gradually decreases the importance of critical thinking and instead replaces it with quick and easy forms of half-baked ideas. In a so-called one-dimensional society, the individual is constantly subjected to messages that say, "Hey, you should be doing this." It doesn't matter what you really want to do. The media convinces you to believe that what they want you to do is what you want to do.
So the following may be from harmless commercials that we see in day-to-day life, but these ideas do take a hold in one's mind. They offer digestible concepts where all you do is accept the message.
"I can." "Think different." (Unfortunately, that makes me a grammatically incorrect thinker.) Should I "hug it? Drive it?" Because it's all about having "less flower more power." To hell with it all, everyone knows that they should "just do it" even though "Coke is it." (So, just do Coke, but only the carbonated kind.)
Advertisements flicker across television screens across America, invading one's thoughts and subconscious. Sometimes these ads even grace billboards, newspapers and magazines in hopes of brainwashing people into foolishly purchasing items such as a $200 pair of Air-(insert name of overpaid sports star) shoes.
With hopes of tapping into all available sources of revenue, the priests of the church of money, whom I will call capitalists, often pander to the lowest common denominator. This explains the popularity of boxing matches thinly disguised as talk shows and sporting events where most of the participants wear spandex and have names like "Ravishing Rick the Super Duck Boy."
According to Marcuse, when society combines elements of art, politics, religion and philosophy together in the mass media, they become reduced to their simplest form. By simplifying these concepts, advertisers often compromise meaning.
Commercials are just an extreme example of the possibility of a one-dimensional society. With the increased dependency on computers and other methods of communication, it is possible to see the one-dimensional society forming in the programs we watch, the ads we see, the newspapers and books we read, and the music we listen to. Just watch and let them think for you and entertain you.
We live in a society where scientists will name various rocks on Mars after old cartoon characters. (Pretty soon we will discover a new planet and name it "Mickey Mouse.") The "Got Milk?" advertisements spawned quite a few imitators which include the "Eat Meat" campaign by a fast-food restaurant chain. There's no escaping this one-dimensional trend; everyone is regurgitating everyone else. Technology continues to advance as we seem more interested in pop culture and money than in really examining and questioning the world around us.
So such messages such as "think different" or "I can" are disseminated around the world in seconds. It's also equally disturbing to see what extent advertising executives will go to just to sell a product. Using a political and spiritual leader such as Ghandi to advertise a grossly overpriced product sends chills down my spine. All Ghandi's work and hardship comes down to two words and an image. (In a decade, will it come down to kids only knowing Ghandi as the "think-different-dude"?)
In print media, it is interesting to see examples of one-dimensional thinking. For example, in the July 12 edition of the San Francisco Examiner, Ed King IV wrote a letter to the editor which read: "President Clinton deserves the Nobel Prize for the promotion of peace in his trip to China. President Nixon must be smiling from his grave and saying, 'Well done, son. Well done.'"
I find it odd that Nixon would be smiling at Clinton from his grave. (Forget that Clinton ignored the issues of Tibet and Taiwan with the Chinese government, since he sure did a lot to promote peace over the last six months with China, as well as smiling at the cameras.) Throughout King's letter, he did not mention what Clinton did to deserve such an honor. He lacked evidence to support his claim and just left his opinion as is. (Does this look familiar to you? Who can argue with Nike's slogan, "I can"?)
Art and music are quite the interesting double-edged swords in this one-dimensional trend. Some artists attempt to retain the meaning and beauty of their art while trying to sell it for as much money as possible. Marcuse once said, "The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship."
Do you see a problem here? What becomes of a society that sells its soul for money? Record companies seek to increase profit margins by offering what the people want. But what the consumer wants is secondary to the money that record executives want in the bank accounts. The goal of increasing profit often sacrifices the integrity of the music.
One needs to only go as far as the nearest adult contemporary station to listen to Jewel whine away about the hardships of love and life. It irked me to hear that she signed a two-book deal for over $2 million.
This money wasn't for any old autobiography but for her poetry. This contract makes Jewel one of the highest paid poets in history.
Who the hell were Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, Stephen Crane and T.S. Eliot? Obviously, people who lacked the talent to convince a publisher to pay them $2 million.
What a weird way to view the world. I wonder if Marcuse is turning in his grave right now. What sort of world view do you subscribe to? Imagine adopting a Freudian perspective of the world. That would be kind of scary.
But if I really wanted to, I could "just do it."
Sohn is a fifth-year anthropology and political science student slowly going insane in Los Angeles. She can be reached at jsohn@ucla.edu.