Re: the next wedge issue

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael wrote:

> My original point in mentioning the subject was that gay marriage gets
> people emotional and prevents rational discourse.  I did not expect that
> observation to apply here on this list.

Does that mean we could realistically look forward to the next American
elections as emotionalist elections, in which the media seek to massage the
masses with emotional or moral messages conducive to achieving a specific
election result ? Or is it rather the case that by continuously being
bombarded with violence and violence on TV, Americans disregard emotional
messages, other than in specific contexts ? In his book Four Arguments for
the Elimination of Television, Jerry Mander notes the hypnotic induction
effect of television. For some statistical estimates on American TV habits
on a few sites, see for example:

http://youthtools.ibelieve.com/content.asp?SID=12&CID=519

http://youthtools.ibelieve.com/content.asp?SID=12&CID=514).

www.sciam.com/ article.cfm?articleID=000027DC-0410-1CD0-B4A8809EC588EEDF

http://nces.ed.gov/



Jurriaan