Frank's Musings

Most of the public believe what they are told entertainingly instead of what they have figured out for themselves.  They feel they are alive only by accident with no purpose but to minimize their and their loved ones’ pain of existence.  The messages that most effectively motivate them are those that help them achieve that goal.  Entertainment is a relief from their daily drudgery and therefore adds an incentive to paying attention to the message’s content.

The entertainment goal of most religions has been to convince people that there is a more important world that exists, either supernaturally or intellectually, that everyone enters spiritually upon death and that rewards them for conducting themselves according to certain tenets of faith.  Those principles of life are usually intended to facilitate the mutually beneficial coexistence of society, although how that society is defined often determines how peaceful it is. 

A smaller portion of the public have concluded that they are individually capable of satisfying their craving for relief from life’s vicissitudes.  This can result in mindful domination of others or in the search for mutually beneficial solutions to existential problems.  Ironically, some of those solutions are also mutually contradictory.  For example, the democratic organization of society usually results in a government that favors the desires of those most influenced by information presented in an entertaining and appealing way.  It is challenging for liberal democratic leaders to advocate for the general welfare when it involves personal sacrifice.  The Ancient Roman answer to this quandary—bread and circuses—is not obsolete; rather, it has been updated—debt and distraction.

This model cannot last.  But to avoid an inevitable collapse, critical Democratic thinkers must master modern communications techniques.  They must make a compelling as well as entertaining presentation of how a reformed government will guild the future of the lower and middle classes and stop funneling the fruits of their labor into the pockets of the wealthy.  More to the point, the Democrats must commit their own futures to the public’s response to their arguments beyond large donors’ gratuities.