Re: Beer etc (was: none)

[arc!ken@apple.com]

In article <4221.8906031839@aipna.ed.ac.uk> you write:
>Really-From: Richard Caley <rjc%aipna.edinburgh.ac.uk@NSFNET-RELAY.AC.UK>
>
>>Really-From: arc!ken@apple.com
>>
>
>>	Sorry, you missed one word of my paragraph - "healthy" [mind].
>>Yes the media know some tricks that work on a short range basis.  But
>>they really have no idea about the structure of the mind.  Otherwise,
>>they would want to elevate everyone's tastes and understanding, rather
>>than just pander to the lowest common denominator for their own short
>>term benefit.
>
>Why? 
>
>Seems to me it is always to the benefit of the media to go for the shor
>term effect. Give them all 1 year intensive courses in psycology and
>neuroscience and they would go back and do the same as now.
>
> ...
>
>Also following trends is cheeper than education. If some producer were
>to be taken with the ide of introducing the masses to the joys of <<
>insert something you consider elevated >>, and succeeded he would end up
>with an audience expecting something he could not afford to give them.
>Which do you think is cheeper, Dalas or an equivalent amount of ( good )
>Shakespear?
>

        I think the Japanese have demonstrated that "Shakespeare" is
more cost effective in the long run.  Not exactly with regard to the
example you are referring to (Dallas vs. Shakespeare), but in general.
The Japanese work in terms of long range plans and intensive education
which spares no expense.  Clearly, this has been a great success for
everyone.

	The media who look only to the short term, come home and find
that the bank has lost the check they deposited, the water pump has
gone dead in their car for the fourth time this year, and so forth.

	Of course, starting with Shakespeare first is the wrong way
to go about it; which is why everyone watches the trash.  And, my
experience is that BBC/PBS people often know no more about it than the
commercial TV people (although TV is certainly not the whole media).

        In any event, this is sliding away from the original question
of people's propensity to identify with a created image for themselves
("I'm a Bud drinking auto mechanic"), rather than finding their source
of self-esteem within themselves.  This therefore becomes more of a
question of changing commercials rather than programs.  Given that
there is only limited air-waves in common, there is some
responsibility on the part of those who grant licenses (the FCC in the
USA) to crack down on the current avalanche of lies (Blah toothpaste
is all you need for sex appeal; Blah chili tastes just like homemade),
in the same way that snake oil and other frauds are prohibited.  Not
that this would solve the problem, of course, but it would certainly
be a step in the right direction.
-- 
                                      - Ken
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