Intellectual Sloth and Culture

(Note: this entry is the fourth part of a five-parts series.)

In my last blog (Democracy and Intellectual Sloth), I discussed of the insidious effects exerted by intellectual sloth in our modern societies, as well as the grave dangers it poses in the maintenance of our democratic values and institutions. Indeed, the prevalence of intellectual sloth results, among others, in the recurrent election of too many incompetent (or even dangerous!) demagogues who "make us feel good, make us feel secure, make us feel at ease".

To this effect, I concluded that we need to bring critical changes to our cultures.

I must specify here that I am not referring to collective cultures which are proper to our different democratic societies, but rather to specific elements - or memes - which are shared by them.

Herein, today's blog will deal with only one of such common memes to our democratic cultures: the search for instant gratification.

As I mentioned previously (A Brave, New (Old) World ...), intellectual sloth reaps ignorance. In turn, ignorance festers fear which acts as a powerful motor in driving irrational thinking and actions. Furthermore, fear is quite expert in the exercise of nullifying any semblance of intellectual and emotional maturity in people – in other words, fear transforms a supposedly adult person into an irresponsible, selfish, reactionary, intolerant, judgement-impaired, and comfort-craving, child (or adolescent). Ergo, an adult person who searches for easy and absolute answers, who demands his/her instant gratifications.

Incidentally, the search for the quick-and-easy and instant gratification fuels egotism, lure of gain, covetousness and greed which, in turn, stimulate further the search for instant gratification ... and so on. We are therefore in the presence of a synergic loop of stimulation.

Or of a vicious circle, if you prefer.

You say you doubt that the search for instant gratification constitutes one of the memes of our democratic cultures? Allow me therefore to expand on this topic.

By definition and analogy, a meme is to a culture what a gene is to a living organism. As is the case of all life, our civilizations, societies and cultures evolve - it is through mutation, disappearance or expansion of memes that cultural evolution occurs. Having said that, let us take a closer look as to how the search for instant gratification, as a meme, has transformed some key aspects of our democratic values, institutions and cultures.

Televised entertainment:
Serious, thought-provoking shows of the forum, review and documentary types are now practically gone. This quasi-extinction occurred gradually over the last 25 years or so. As their replacements, we now have sports or tabloid shows which dominate tv programming, such as talk-shows (from the "feel good" to the "scandalous and confrontational" categories), or info-tainments which deal only with ... entertainment (tv, movies, fashion, etc.) and the celebrities related to it. How did this happen? Ratings and profits. What drove (and still drive) said ratings and profits in a way which caused the quasi-extinction of those more serious shows? The search for instant gratification. Incidentally, it is this very same meme which is also responsible for the current prevalence of those insipid reality-tv shows upon which we are now throwing all of our democratic passions.

Thankfully, there are still drama shows out there that are complex and which appeal to our intelligence (such as the CSI or Law and Order series) ... but when will such shows disappear as well? The question is quite germaine, considering that the search for instant gratification has dramatically dumbed-down tv programming at large. Case in point: specialty channels like the Discovery Channel were good for a while, but ultimately began to wallow in house makeovers, body makeovers, bogus documentaries meant to push pseudo-sciences, et al. They had no choice to do that in order to keep ratings and advertising sponsors. And what about the "further" specialty channels (e.g. Science Channel, Civilization Channel, etc.) you ask? They are suffering the same problems, i.e. having to dumb things down in order to keep ratings and advertising revenues or disappear.

Journalism (all media confounded):
Similarly and in parallel to tv entertainment, the serious aspects and the integrity of news in tv, radio and newspapers has gradually left way to tabloid products, not only imitating the talk-show and info-tainment formulas but their practices as well. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Do tell! It is simply impossible to ignore them by virtue of the fact that they are in all the news (all media confounded) lately! And what about Darfur? Or Haditha? Or George W. Bush's very latest lie? Etc.? Barely a mention, if mention there actually is. No, no, no - let's talk instead of celebrities, of crimes, of sports, of "heartwarming" stories and, especially, of the fear du jour. And forget about verifying facts. Why do you think the majority of journalists seems nowadays only able to regurgitate propaganda (or spin) from our leaders, from corporation-paid-for organizations or corporations proper? Three reasons: a) to preserve a supposed "access" (which constitutes the formula used by info-tainments with regards to studios, celebrities, etc.); b) too many journalists, editors, or producers search for the quick-and-easy; and c) too many journalists, editors or producers have fallen under the lure of gain and fame (after all, we should not forget that they too come from the same cultures as ours). Incidentally, the majority of those presumed investigative reporting shows are likewise suffering from superficiality or propaganda regurgitation, even disinformation (to this effect, here is a blog which discusses the case of an irresponsible and greedy ABC network investigative reporter).

And what of the forum-type shows mentioned previously? Once again, we find ourselves right in the middle of the tabloid universe where the one who screams the loudest, who is the most incendiary, and/or the most controversial, turns out to be the one most watched or listened to - all media confounded. Lastly, I will spare you the explanations as to how some of those televised news networks, especially Fox News, constitute paragdims of tabloid tv, bias, propaganda regurgitation and disinformation. The fact is that too many journalists nowadays simply do not bother to report the truth and reality anymore. Instead, they play the spin game while nitpicking facts and discarding those deemed "unpleasant". Once again, how have we come to this? Ratings and profits, baby. And, of course, the prevalence of the search for instant gratification which dictates said ratings and profits.

As I said previously, the majority of us would rather be serviced an opinion, like being served fast-food, instead of making the effort to forge one (and an informed one at that!) for ourselves. Thankfully, we have independent news agencies, the internet and blogs - otherwise, we would be in real trouble ... nonetheless, a pillar of our democratic institutions is now dangerously close of collapsing.

Politics:
As in the case of journalism and televised entertainment, politics are now nothing short of a product that is pushed to the spoiled, instant gratification-searching children that we are. Election campaigns? The time has long passed since the days when public debates (televised or not), characterized by their depth of content, were the norm. Nowadays, it is all about easy formulas and easy answers. Everything is about the 30 seconds soundbyte that can be shown in those degenerated news shows which now predominate the waves (see above). The same applies as well to the political messages - my apology, I should have written "political advertisements" - which cost millions upon millions of dollars. Should we be thereafter surprised and shocked by the monetary collusion between special interests and too many politicians? As for too many journalists, there is a too high number of politicans who also go for the quick-and-easy way: indeed, there is nothing easier than using fear, corruption of facts and attacks against opponents - especially since intellectual sloth, ignorance, fear and the search for instant gratification are prevalent among the electorate.

Now, what about government accountability? Same problem here. Everything is about spin and to hell with facts and reality. However, let us not be too quick in judging our politicians: like our journalists, they are from the same culture as ours. In other words: they are only a reflection of ourselves.

In summary, our intellectual sloth generates our ignorance, our fear, our selfishness, our intolerance, as well as our search for instant gratification. To this effect, the search for instant gratification is most likely a meme of our current cultures, and one which has greatly expanded over the last 25 years or so. Consequently, we have become akin to spoiled children with short attention-spans and which must be serviced, instead of the mature human beings endowed with capacities for reasoning, discerning and critical thinking, that we are supposed to be. Hence tabloid tv, tabloid news and tabloid politics - hence the prevalence of the lowest common denominator.

For indeed intellectual sloth compels those that are guilty of it to bring others down to their piteous level. A typical example of this are religious fundamentalists. Such dynamic is no different than the pressure bore down by unmotivated (or lazy) workers upon their motivated colleagues, in order to make the latters adopt the attitudes of the formers. The same goes in every aspect of activity in our societies, with regards to intellectual sloth. And the search for instant gratification is that much more contagious as a cultural meme.

(Not convinced by this? Then I offer to you the current anti-intellectualism mood prevailing these days ...)

In short, everything today is about marketing and easy, quick and low-cost solutions - instead of those complicated things that we should be doing, like reasoning, dialoguing, discussing ideas and searching for solutions that are both practical and durable, however complex and difficult these may be.

I repeat this: everything today is about marketing. We are therefore offered only what the majority apparently asks for.

Hence, our selfishness and search for the quick-and-easy make us prisoners of the "now" while at the same time rendering us blind to yesterday and, even worse, to tomorrow.

Just like children and adolescents.

Now, does this mean that intellectual sloth is in itself a cultural meme? No. Intellectual sloth is a character flaw that breeds as a by-product the search for instant gratification which, indeed, has gradually transformed into a cultural meme in our modern and democratized societies.

Conversely, considering that intellectual sloth is a flaw, however much of a scourge it may be, this therefore leaves open for the possibility of keeping it in check - if not of actually eradicating it ... eventually.

Which will, as you have already guessed, comprise the subject of the last blog of this short series. Stay tuned ...

(this entry was originally posted 31/05/06)

(Google caches of the original posts - in English and in French)