Opinion vs knowledge
Every person on this planet has an opinion. Some people, and I'm sure you can think of some, just have too many opinions! They have an opinion on every issue!
However, while everybody has an opinion, not everybody has knowledge. Very few people have knowledge (best defined as "the capacity for effective action").
We can't choose our parents, but we CAN choose our friends, and if you happened to choose friends who have more opinions than they have knowledge, then life will be hard for you. (The good news, of course, is that you can always make new friends).
Brian Tracy wrote that a person will usually earn within 20% of the average salary of his five closest friends. Such is the power of social norms.
Research also shows that if a person knows a successful entrepreneur, the odds of his going into business is TWICE the odds of someone who does not know an entrepreneur.
I submit that the same principle applies to one's media habits. A media (TV, websites, magazines, newspapers, etc.) is a friend that talks all the time, the minute it sees you. Unlike a friend, a mass/cultural media will NEVER listen to you!
The media is the message, and the message in this case is that you cannot be smarter than the media you chose to read (and believe).
Take the six o'clock news. It's designed to cater to every person, from the teenager to the 65-year-old man in retirement. Even the highschool drop-out will watch the six o'clock news. So if you are a professional who has 20 years of experience, then by watching the evening news, you basically lower your IQ to the level of that news program. (Notice that ALL news programs have exciting music, bright colored headlines, vivid images and graphics, etc. -- all these effects are designed to switch off your rationality and appeal to your "lower" brain, which is more responsive to sensory stimuli).
Another example: go to the nearest bookstore in the magazine section, and you will usually see one section filled with magazines like Stuff, FHM, etc. designed to cater to a certain type of superficially oriented men, while the adjacent section (which is clearly separated) is filled with magazines such as Strategy, Economist, Harvard Business Review, etc.
The superficially oriented man care more about other people's opinion of him, whereas the ambitious, power-seeking) man cares more about how fast he can acquire knowledge in order to grow in capacity and achieve bigger things in life.
However, while everybody has an opinion, not everybody has knowledge. Very few people have knowledge (best defined as "the capacity for effective action").
We can't choose our parents, but we CAN choose our friends, and if you happened to choose friends who have more opinions than they have knowledge, then life will be hard for you. (The good news, of course, is that you can always make new friends).
Brian Tracy wrote that a person will usually earn within 20% of the average salary of his five closest friends. Such is the power of social norms.
Research also shows that if a person knows a successful entrepreneur, the odds of his going into business is TWICE the odds of someone who does not know an entrepreneur.
I submit that the same principle applies to one's media habits. A media (TV, websites, magazines, newspapers, etc.) is a friend that talks all the time, the minute it sees you. Unlike a friend, a mass/cultural media will NEVER listen to you!
The media is the message, and the message in this case is that you cannot be smarter than the media you chose to read (and believe).
Take the six o'clock news. It's designed to cater to every person, from the teenager to the 65-year-old man in retirement. Even the highschool drop-out will watch the six o'clock news. So if you are a professional who has 20 years of experience, then by watching the evening news, you basically lower your IQ to the level of that news program. (Notice that ALL news programs have exciting music, bright colored headlines, vivid images and graphics, etc. -- all these effects are designed to switch off your rationality and appeal to your "lower" brain, which is more responsive to sensory stimuli).
Another example: go to the nearest bookstore in the magazine section, and you will usually see one section filled with magazines like Stuff, FHM, etc. designed to cater to a certain type of superficially oriented men, while the adjacent section (which is clearly separated) is filled with magazines such as Strategy, Economist, Harvard Business Review, etc.
The superficially oriented man care more about other people's opinion of him, whereas the ambitious, power-seeking) man cares more about how fast he can acquire knowledge in order to grow in capacity and achieve bigger things in life.
posted by Super Peter at 4:22 PM
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