Messages

[Doktor Howl]

Human society is all about information, the sending of messages.  Most of these messages are obviously advertisements, but they're a little outside of what I want to talk about now.  What I'd like to discuss is the messages you get from day-to-day interaction with other humans.

Example 1:  The police. 

In the 1950s, the police wore a hat, a belt, a gun, and a nightstick, and travelled in pairs.  The message was "We are here as representatives of the law.  If you misbehave, we may arrest you.  If you really misbehave, we may be forced to club you.  If you go completely batshit, we will shoot you.  Let's not let things get out of hand, okay?

By the 60s, the riot shield was added, for dealing with flower children.  The message there was "We are the legions of order.  Submit."

In the 80s, police carried radios.  The message there was "you can't outrun this radio."

In the 90s, tasers became available.  The new message was "Go ahead and fuck around.  I'm DYING to try this thing out.

By the last decade, the police look like nothing so much as infantry.  The message the police at the WTO and OWS protests sent was "You People are The Enemy, and you will be treated as such.  Submit now, or quit the field...Or we'll make you wish you were never born."

A far cry from "We are here as representatives of the law.", right?


Example 2:  The democratic party as the "opposition" to the republican party.  "We'll do the same things, but we'll do them better!  Change!"

I don't think I have to explain that one...The dems openly agree with whatever batshit ideas the GOP comes up with, having already taken those ideas as valid.  The message, of course, is "The Fix is in."

Example 3:  You are waiting for a one on one meeting with your boss.  He keeps you cooling your heels while he does things that could have been done outside of the agreed-upon meeting time.

The message here is, "I'm an important guy, and the things I do are more important than your time."  If he's taking a call from HIS boss, not unreasonable.  If he's playing Farmville on his computer, get a new job.

A little more on this later.

[El Twid]

Looking forward to more. Will see if I can think of some examples.

[M. Nigel Salt]

So true, regarding the militarization of the police. If they are an army, WE are the enemy.

[Doktor Howl]

So true, regarding the militarization of the police. If they are an army, WE are the enemy.

Yep.  The message changed with the times, though...It didn't drive the times.  That was done by an indoctrinated public.

[stelz]

So true, regarding the militarization of the police. If they are an army, WE are the enemy.

Yep.  The message changed with the times, though...It didn't drive the times.  That was done by an indoctrinated public.

There's always been a moron faction, but at some point they started to be taken seriously...I mean come on, holy rollers? FFS.

There's still a fair percentage that hates this shit. We just get ignored and marginalized. This got over a thousand shares on facebook and a bunch of "YAY" and mounted police jokes. I didn't see any complaints, even though nobody knows if these were shitty cops or not:



(This would make a great HIMEOBS pic, BTW. If HIMEOBS existed. Which it doesn't.)

[Doktor Howl]

So true, regarding the militarization of the police. If they are an army, WE are the enemy.

Yep.  The message changed with the times, though...It didn't drive the times.  That was done by an indoctrinated public.

There's always been a moron faction, but at some point they started to be taken seriously...I mean come on, holy rollers? FFS.

They've been with us since day 1.  Hell, their heyday was 1945-1965.  This is just the backwash.

[stelz]

Hopefully they're on the way out, then.
The hairspray alone put a gaping hole in the ozone. 

[Doktor Howl]

Hopefully they're on the way out, then.
The hairspray alone put a gaping hole in the ozone. 

Naw.  They'll always be with us...Not out of religious belief, but out of the need - that many primates have - to tell other primates what they can and cannot do, rationality be damned.

[stelz]

Hopefully they're on the way out, then.
The hairspray alone put a gaping hole in the ozone. 

Naw.  They'll always be with us...Not out of religious belief, but out of the need - that many primates have - to tell other primates what they can and cannot do, rationality be damned.

Yeah, that's what it REALLY takes to be a christian. Not John 3:16.

[Doktor Howl]

Hopefully they're on the way out, then.
The hairspray alone put a gaping hole in the ozone. 

Naw.  They'll always be with us...Not out of religious belief, but out of the need - that many primates have - to tell other primates what they can and cannot do, rationality be damned.

Yeah, that's what it REALLY takes to be a christian. Not John 3:16.

Yeah, well, that's undeniably a good chunk of the US population, like it or not.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Hopefully they're on the way out, then.
The hairspray alone put a gaping hole in the ozone. 

Naw.  They'll always be with us...Not out of religious belief, but out of the need - that many primates have - to tell other primates what they can and cannot do, rationality be damned.

Yeah, that's what it REALLY takes to be a christian. Not John 3:16.

Yeah, well, that's undeniably a good chunk of the US population, like it or not.

^ Truth.

[Phox]

I too am looking forward to more insight into this. I agree with all of yuor examples, but I think the last speaks to me the most. Definitely something that you get to see a lot of when you're the small town kid in the big city for the first time.

[Cainad]

Sometimes it seems like all that extra grey meat in our heads only really got there as an adaptation to increasingly subtle primate messages. Many of us don't need to consciously think about what message we're getting; the messages Dok spelled out above are ones we've probably all received and processed without really thinking about it. All of this crap can be handled on autopilot, but that may not be the best solution; in fact it probably isn't.

The fact that all of this extra headmeat can do things like mathematics, scientific analysis, music, and artistic expression is merely a side effect of all this extra processing power. It adapted to survive in a complex primate society, and it will default to that "mode" if we don't pay attention and watch what it's doing.

[Doktor Howl]

Sometimes it seems like all that extra grey meat in our heads only really got there as an adaptation to increasingly subtle primate messages. Many of us don't need to consciously think about what message we're getting; the messages Dok spelled out above are ones we've probably all received and processed without really thinking about it. All of this crap can be handled on autopilot, but that may not be the best solution; in fact it probably isn't.

The fact that all of this extra headmeat can do things like mathematics, scientific analysis, music, and artistic expression is merely a side effect of all this extra processing power. It adapted to survive in a complex primate society, and it will default to that "mode" if we don't pay attention and watch what it's doing.

Memetic false consciousness is no substitute for a life.

[Cainad]

Ahhh I forgot about that term. I'm not in a position to do it now, but I'd like to see that thread again. I have some ideas that I'd like to gel into an essay, but I'd also like to see what's already been written to help the ideas advance.

Probably ought to go get my windshield fixed first, though