(原创）宝押对了：戈尔的新书《攻击理性》—电视损害美国的民主？

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        如果美国的总统大选结果由候选人懂得引用的名人名言多少来决定，那么从2001年1月20日到今天，在白宫当家作主的应该是戈尔。在一本不算厚、300来页的新书《攻击理性》（The Assault on Reason)中，他旁征博引，时间跨度远远超过230年的美国历史，视点则自由地在新旧大陆之间来回跳跃。比如，刚说完美国的建国之父杰斐逊、麦迪逊，接着神游到德国当代哲学家哈贝马斯那里，过一小会再回到美国最高法院大法官布兰迪斯。此时还没完，意大利战略家马基雅维利也有话要说。与戈尔比较，布什简洁得多，他给人的印象是特别看重《圣经》，对他影响最大的哲学家要数耶稣基督。
　　
　　戈尔显然对传媒也深有研究。传媒业诸多人物，从第一个大规模印刷《圣经》的古登堡到托马斯·潘恩，从李普曼到乔姆斯基，戈尔也都能顺手拈来。他的这本书强调，美国的民主正在空洞化，老百姓与民主的联系越来越弱。全社会范围内，理性成份日益淡化。按照他的观点，保守派当然要负主要责任。我欣然接受这个结论不难，但另一个结论却不太愿意面对。戈尔断定，美国社会出问题的另一个原因是电视。
　　
　　美国人每天看电视的时间平均达到4个小时，其他国家的人民恐怕难以望其项背。面对同样数据，乐观派可能会认为这是因为美国的电视好看：《越狱》、《超级英雄》、《绝望的主妇》、《24小时》…4个小时一眨眼就过去。戈尔比较悲观，他几乎要认定，电视如果这么看下去，国将不国。坐在电视机前，人们主要在吸收，而不是表达。长此以往，理性思考的能力就会在这种被动接收的过程中逐渐丧失。
　　
　　自李普曼以来，manufacturing demand和manufacturing consensus等公关战略就已经为传播界熟练掌握。公关战役过后，那些原本不需要某种产品的人开始有了购买冲动，那些原本不这么看问题的人开始改变观点。市场主导一切，受众成为产品推广对象。如果不具备主动思考和选择的能力，他们将沦落到被操纵的境地。在一个民主国家，只有依靠公众在全面掌握信息的基础上作出理性思考和决策，才能保证社会正常运转。戈尔总结说，电视从根本上破坏了这种机制。
　　
　　我知道电视业迟早会有麻烦，但不知道麻烦这么大。在数字录像技术普及以后，我已经极少按照播出时间收看电视，基本上只有体育比赛才算例外。录在硬盘上的节目几乎没有质量损失，收看的时候，我一般会以15倍甚至60倍的速度跳过不感兴趣的部分。更重要的是，可以跳过所有广告。仔细想来，我经常陷入迷惘。作为电视从业人员，我个人时间上的收益竟然会换来电视业大厦将倾...电视如果不再是有效的广告投放平台，以后还能怎么玩？
　　
　　美国电视业为观众提供了大量精良的节目，与此同时，他们也生产出不少垃圾。如果观众缺少鉴别力，其实也很容易陷入低俗而不能自拔。当有线电视网成天关心那些年轻又缺少自律的女明星们是否吸毒、酗酒、开车撞人，或者穿没穿内裤的时候，我会突发奇想，宣传部的统一领导有时候可能真管用。假如有共和党纽约市委宣传部或者民主党华盛顿市委宣传部这样的机构，美国电视也许会更好。
　　
　　戈尔站的位置到底跟我大不一样，他不会动用自己的影响力去促成宣传部的设立。戈尔解决问题的方案在互联网。


maomao2007年10月12日 13:32
哈哈,该拿诺贝尔运气奖, 奖金100万美金!!

水无忧
　　2007-10-05 11:34:40
　　不一样就是不一样哦，专业的电视人视野就是不同凡响，写的有理有力有节的。
　　很多像你一样的人，在获得时间上的收益的同时，却造成了电视大厦的将倾，呵呵，“罪魁祸首”了。
　　对于电视节目的制作也是迎合不同人的口味，有些人就是希望关心八卦新闻的，关键在于人的选择。美国电视剧的确很吸引人，这也是人喜欢花费很多时间在电视机前面的原因。
　　
　　我昨天刚刚在网上把在国内时看了一半的《新结婚时代》看完了，前面挺好的，后面的结尾真恶心，恶俗！
　　
　　 艾小柯
　　2007-10-05 13:32:07
　　hehe，我以前一个朋友就说，美国人都看fox，能不都被洗脑吗？
　　
　　其实我觉得从体制上看，电视之所以被戈尔blame，主要还是管制——未必是直接的政治管制，自发的“经济管制”的结果也是类似的。比如以前的radio吧，貌似是很自由很民主的，那么多电台，但其实90%已上的电台都是clear channel的下属，放什么音乐，能说什么政治言论其实是相当程式化的。电视台现在也差不多——美国有几个真正独立的电视台呢？当整个社会都是卖方市场的时候，消费者很难think outside the box。啊，写到这我想起来奇科夫的《套子里的人》，呵呵，未来的社会制度变化在我看来并不是越来越民主，集中的势头更为强劲。
　　
　　互联网之所以是最被看好的substitute，那是因为目前还没有什么简单经济控制网络的技术，网络还没被管制，自由的成本相对低廉。我希望这种自由能够持续时间长些，但我个人其实蛮担心互联网作为心的一种社会平台，也会按照真是社会的发展方式，即使没有政治管制，经济管制的力量也越来越强。
　　
　　 underbaby
　　2007-10-06 01:22:20
　　Micheal Moore那些极端人士不也这么说过，只是他们矛头直接指向各大公司（烟，酒，药等）和犹太组织控制传媒，而影响大众的思考观点。
　　
　　 jj
　　2007-10-06 12:03:25
　　很好。。。刚看新闻说戈尔可能会得诺贝尔和平奖。
　　
　　 易速利
　　2007-10-07 07:41:30
　　水无忧，我来美国以后看电视比在国内多很多，节目质量确实很好。中国的电视剧除了朋友做的，其他我都不怎么看。
　　艾小柯说的互联网前途问题，戈尔在书中提到过，比如internet neutrality。互联网在政治观点和经济利益的复杂交织中保持中立最好，时间越长越好。
　　underbaby，你要问michael moore谁当总统最好，他一定说戈。 



 诺贝尔和平奖戈尔Gore and U.N. Panel Win Peace Prize

诺贝尔和平奖戈尔Gore and U.N. Panel Win Peace Prize

Al Gore, who won an Academy Award this year for his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," had been widely expected to win the prize.

OSLO, Oct. 12 — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Al Gore, the former American vice president, and to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work to alert the world to the threat of climate change.

Mr. Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, "is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted,” the Nobel citation said.

The United Nations committee, a network of 2,000 scientists, has produced two decades of scientific reports that have "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," it said.

Mr. Gore, who was traveling in San Francisco, said in a statement that he was deeply honored to receive the prize. "I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," he said in the statement, Reuters reported.

"This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis — a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years," he said, according to Reuters.

"My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis."

The Nobel award carries political ramifications in the United States, which the Nobel committed tried to minimize after its announcement today. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, addressed reporters after the awards were announced and tried to dismiss repeated questions asking whether the awards were a criticism — direct or indirect — of the Bush administration.

He said the committee was making an appeal to the entire world to unite against the threat of global warming.

"We would encourage all countries, including the big countries, to challenge, all of them, to think again and to say what can they do to conquer global warming. The bigger the powers, the better that they come in front of this.”

He said the peace prize is only a message of encouragement, adding, "the Nobel committee has never given a kick in the leg to anyone."

In this decade the Nobel Peace Prize has been given to prominent people and agencies who differ on a range of issues with the Bush administration, including Jimmy Carter and Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the United Nations’ nuclear monitoring agency in Vienna.

Global warming has been a powerful issue all this year, attracting more and more public attention.

Mr. Gore’s film "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary about global warming, won an Academy Award this year. The United Nations committee has issued repeated reports and held successive conferences to highlight the growing scientific understanding of the problem. At the same time, signs of global warming are more and more apparent, even in the melting Arctic.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said global warming "may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states."

Jan Egeland, a Norwegian peace mediator and former senior United Nations official for humanitarian affairs, called climate change more than an environmental issue.

"It is a question of war and peace," Mr. Egeland, now director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo, told the Associated Press. "We’re already seeing the first climate wars, in the Sahel belt of Africa." He said nomads and herders are in conflict with farmers because the changing climate has brought drought and a shortage of fertile lands.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.