THE POLITICAL
The Laws of Media take on how we see the world through the two forms of mind space also gave me a new way to look at politics based upon my previous thoughts on the 'Philosophical (Acoustic) versus the Practical (Visual).'
As far as I can tell, and everything I say after this is generalization, but useful genrealization, the divide between liberal and conservative can be explained neatly by defining the time they spend in Acoustic and Visual space.
Liberals, in general, make decisions based upon emotion and abstract concepts of truth drawn from debate and a relativistic view of society and the universe in general. It doesn't matter what is, it is what should be that is the Truth of things, and like Socrates, they believe that Truth comes from within. A liberal will read a book and wonder at the motivations and underlying metaphors, even if there aren't any and they will follow a plan of action because it is based on the Truth, no matter how much evidence points to it also being totally unfeasible.
Conservatives, on the other hand, live in the world of the known quantity. They look at centuries of history and apply the precepts learned to every situation. What they feel is secondary to what is the most practical method of getting from point A to point B and that is determined by what the facts of the matter are, not the Truth of it. If they read a book, they take it at face value and 'see it' in visual terms: setting, character and will often miss abstract uses of wording or metaphor. They will follow a plan until it becomes unfeasible and then start over.
This, of course explains why so many liberals becomes academics or artists while so many conservatives are business people. Academia and art provide an opportunity to live in Acoustic space full-time while business provides a practical, tangible and Visual result that can be appreciated by those of a conservative mind-set.
While thinking about all of this and reading a quote from Max Planck, which can be summed up as 'New theories don't take hold by debate but by waiting for old theories to die,' it also verifies what I've suspected all along about technology, education and their combined role in the downfall of civilizations. Progressive elements (which typically consist of rabble-rousers, anarchists and those seeking to establish a new civilization in their own image), who cannot win in the marketplace of ideas through argument, often seek to usurp control of information dissemination in order to control the education of younger, more open minds in a society. In this way, they can introduce changes to society without confronting it directly by massaging the youth and waiting for the keepers of the old mores to die off one by one.
In this country in particular, teacher's unions and the mass media teach young people that morals are relative, there are no absolutes and parental modes of thought are out of date and incompatible with the Acoustic space that the Progressives wish to see overthrow conventional Visual thought. In previous centuries, this was harder to accomplish as the main source of information and influence came from family and local political structures, but with the advent of the 24 hour media cycle and easy access to any form of alternate thought, from philosophy to porn, it is far easier to get the message out.
As such, voting patterns change and politicians are elected on much more Acoustic principles, like 'Hope and Change' rather than practical experience or Visual accomplishments, and their policies are based more and more often on 'what should work' rather than 'what does work.'
Yep, they may not have meant to, but the authors of Laws of Media have really reinforced my perspectives on the world with their very interesting theories.
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