"We the People must reclaim the integrity of our democracy."
Video: Al Gore on abuses of 'mass media persuasion'David Edwards and Muriel KanePublished:
Tuesday May 29, 2007
On Tuesday's edition of Countdown, Keith Olbermann began by highlighting both the ignorance of General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concerning the number of American troops that have died in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan's withdrawal from her role as a leader of the anti-war movement.
Olbermann then turned to his guest, former Vice-President Al Gore, asking him whether he agrees with Sheehan. Gore hestitated before answering but finally said that he agrees in part, in that he believes our "national conversation" is dominated by trivialities and "very cleverly constructed propagandistic messaging that really doesn't take logic and reason into account."
When Olbermann pursued the point further, asking Gore to comment on Sheehan's sense that the country doesn't want change, and the broader sense that attempting to engage in a dialog is pointless, Gore responded by pointing to the Internet as something that is bringing back a "public marketplace of ideas that is more accessible to individuals"
Picking up one of the major themes of his book, The Assault on Reason, Gore stated, "The Internet does invite a robust, multi-way conversation that I think is already beginning to serve as a corrective for some of the abuses of the mass media persuasion campaigns that brought us the invasion of Iraq and the ignoring of the climate crisis."
Democracy, said Gore, is something that comes naturally to human beings, but when the conversation becomes one-way -- as it does when dominated by mass media like television -- and is diverted into propaganda, people come to feel they have no way to be heard. "We are more vulnerable to these kinds of sophisticated efforts to bypass reason and logic," Gore stated. The corrective to this, he insisted, is that "We the People must reclaim the integrity of our democracy."
Finally, when asked about the prospect of him seeking the presidential nomination, Gore answered as always that he doesn't expect to run, explaining, "I don't think I'm necessary very good at politics or at a lot of the things that our modern political system rewards and as a result I'm serving in other ways."
The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast on May 29. , Gore stated, "The Internet does invite a robust, multi-way conversation that I think is already beginning to serve as a corrective for some of the abuses of the mass media persuasion campaigns that brought us the invasion of Iraq and the ignoring of the climate crisis."
Democracy, said Gore, is something that comes naturally to human beings, but when the conversation becomes one-way -- as it does when dominated by mass media like television -- and is diverted into propaganda, people come to feel they have no way to be heard. "We are more vulnerable to these kinds of sophisticated efforts to bypass reason and logic," Gore stated. The corrective to this, he insisted, is that "We the People must reclaim the integrity of our democracy."
Finally, when asked about the prospect of him seeking the presidential nomination, Gore answered as always that he doesn't expect to run, explaining, "I don't think I'm necessary very good at politics or at a lot of the things that our modern political system rewards and as a result I'm serving in other ways."
The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast on May 29.
On Tuesday's edition of Countdown, Keith Olbermann began by highlighting both the ignorance of General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concerning the number of American troops that have died in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan's withdrawal from her role as a leader of the anti-war movement.
Olbermann then turned to his guest, former Vice-President Al Gore, asking him whether he agrees with Sheehan. Gore hestitated before answering but finally said that he agrees in part, in that he believes our "national conversation" is dominated by trivialities and "very cleverly constructed propagandistic messaging that really doesn't take logic and reason into account."
When Olbermann pursued the point further, asking Gore to comment on Sheehan's sense that the country doesn't want change, and the broader sense that attempting to engage in a dialog is pointless, Gore responded by pointing to the Internet as something that is bringing back a "public marketplace of ideas that is more accessible to individuals"
Picking up one of the major themes of his book, The Assault on Reason, Gore stated, "The Internet does invite a robust, multi-way conversation that I think is already beginning to serve as a corrective for some of the abuses of the mass media persuasion campaigns that brought us the invasion of Iraq and the ignoring of the climate crisis."
Democracy, said Gore, is something that comes naturally to human beings, but when the conversation becomes one-way -- as it does when dominated by mass media like television -- and is diverted into propaganda, people come to feel they have no way to be heard. "We are more vulnerable to these kinds of sophisticated efforts to bypass reason and logic," Gore stated. The corrective to this, he insisted, is that "We the People must reclaim the integrity of our democracy."
Finally, when asked about the prospect of him seeking the presidential nomination, Gore answered as always that he doesn't expect to run, explaining, "I don't think I'm necessary very good at politics or at a lot of the things that our modern political system rewards and as a result I'm serving in other ways."
The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast on May 29. , Gore stated, "The Internet does invite a robust, multi-way conversation that I think is already beginning to serve as a corrective for some of the abuses of the mass media persuasion campaigns that brought us the invasion of Iraq and the ignoring of the climate crisis."
Democracy, said Gore, is something that comes naturally to human beings, but when the conversation becomes one-way -- as it does when dominated by mass media like television -- and is diverted into propaganda, people come to feel they have no way to be heard. "We are more vulnerable to these kinds of sophisticated efforts to bypass reason and logic," Gore stated. The corrective to this, he insisted, is that "We the People must reclaim the integrity of our democracy."
Finally, when asked about the prospect of him seeking the presidential nomination, Gore answered as always that he doesn't expect to run, explaining, "I don't think I'm necessary very good at politics or at a lot of the things that our modern political system rewards and as a result I'm serving in other ways."
The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast on May 29.
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