"Yes Men" Society

[cityimrov]

Modern corporate society has created a culture where you decide what you want to hear.  Modern society also is creating tools and method where anything that you don't want to hear, you don't.  In short, TV, radio, internet, even church groups are slowly being designed to provide you exactly what you want to hear and blocking that you don't want to hear.  In short, people are now being surrounded by a bunch of "yes men" praising them all the time.

Social networking sites like Facebook are taking this to the next level where your "friend" list is a bunch of people telling you how awesome whatever you do is and any problems you face is someone else's fault 24/7.  It's getting to the point where you, as a human, never really have to face any of the "bad" stuff.  Bad being stuff you either disagree with, are different from your viewpoint, and so forth. 

Do you guys this all this is creating a better or worst society?  Fifty years from now, what kind of culture do you think we'll have because of this? 

[cityimrov]

This is a great topic, Civic.

Ill bite.

How do you think that communication of today is in any way different than it was in the past?

Is it less likely that a Klansman circa 1933 was surrounded by a lack of differing opinions than the same Klansman today?

I think it is the exact opposite.  In fact I think we are finally emerging from a sort of mass hypnosis created by the era of mass media.

I would say speed, sophistication, and power.  It's a double edge sword.  I'm not saying the past was better, it was just different back then. 

This is going to be hard to explain but I'll try.  Today, we are given the same tools as a rich person were given back then.  The tools the leaders of Woolworths, Kodak,  K-Mart, Montgomery Ward, Vietnam Era Pentagon, Chicago Gas Company, or even Jacksonville! 

Back then, we, as a society were forced to deal what we had.  Communication was crude, slow, and simple.  Except for the rich, we were forced to either comply or have a bad time living.  "Suck it up", be ostracized, or risk moving somewhere else were the only real options.

Today, we don't have to surround ourselves by the parts of society we don't like.   We can create our own world with our own information and our own news and our own explanations - just like the leaders back then.  Some leaders back then used their access for information to find out what's wrong with them and change that part to be successful.  Most though, choose create a system where they are special, unique, and invincible while failing spectacularly.     

I'm curious what kind of future this will create and what kind of world our great grand kids will be living in because of this.   I don't know the answer.  Every individual is now more empowered than ever.  Instead of a few rich people getting "yes men", everybody now in society can have their own personal set of "yes men" should they choose. 

I don't know too much about the Klan so I can't answer that.  We are changing from the mass media hypnosis to to where we can hypnotize ourselves if we want to.   

[Garden guy]

Why are cell phones so very popular?...because everyone likes to feel important. and wanted and a cell makes people feel a little bit more special..."i gotta take this call..someone needs me..it could be important."....just like face book...how many friends do you have?....we've all created worlds where things around us say..."yes"...i see it kind of attached to instant gratification...its proof positive that the human species is getting lazier and lazier..lol...modern technology has allowed us all so much extra time to love ourselves...it could be our undoing....lol..that and politics as we know it.

[dougskiles]

I agree with Mr. Dare.  People have always sought the company and affirmation of like minds.  How else do you explain racism?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

not touching the race issue, but cityimrov's point seems to be that we have made it so easy to insulate ourselves from those that we might disagree with that what going to happen to the future generations that have learned to tune out all of the negative by the time that they turn 8.

Negativity, ackward situations, criticism (warranted or not) causes us to react - and how we react to those situations over the course of our life define us.  In the past, it was a parent's job to screen where we went, who we went with, what we watched, what we ate, etc... and it was our job's to push our parents rules to the limit.  In today's society, it seems that we're able to screen all of this at younger ages, and younger kids are setting their own limit of what they are willing to take.

So and so picks on me at school - We talk about him/her behind their back on FB.  I don't like hearing about leftist politics on TV - I watch Fox News.  My teacher has a subject that makes me uncomfortable - I send an anonymous email to the school district and have said teacher put on temp leave until the situation is cleared up.

Interesting question.  I'm sure there'll be interesting takes.  And as a parent of a pre-teen I look forward to the discussion.

[cityimrov]

One of the biggest thing I'm seeing lately is trying convince people their unrealistic ideas while they are parroting sources which say it's possible. 

"Lower Taxes, Increase Spending, and Have No Debt" or "Work Life Balance" (with the idea they are going to be CEO or some rich executive)

I've heard people talk about lots of ideas which are so unrealistic, it's impossible unless they believe in magic.  There's not enough money or time in the world to do what they say they want to do.  Raising a family is an honorable choice, it's a nice choice but your going to have to give up on something to do so.  While your off raising your kids, someone has to "raise" the company.  While your "raising" the company, somebody has to raise the kids.  Chances are, these people are going to get promoted over you.  There's only so many hours in a day.  Some people are accepting on this and that's ok!  There are many countries out there which also accept this idea and they are doing quite well.

The difference though is we seem to be creating a large group of people who think they can have it when they can't.  I hear people complain loudly about the unfairness of things like this.  Not only do they complain, they have tons of sources to back them up which is just telling them what they want to hear.  They also now surround themselves with their friends who support this idea as well.  Things could end quite well but it seems like modern society is setting up everyone for a gigantic disappointment and I don't know what's going to happen after that. 

[Jumpinjack]

All of this seeking of like opinions is nothing new.  In the late 19th, early 20th Century the newspapers were highly slanted and made no pretense of objective reporting.  Political parties actually had their own papers too.  Organizations like the masons, elks and churches also made sure you only heard what you wanted to hear.