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>tv has nothing to do with it. ...k? I'm making the case for vapid content on television being symptomatic of declining intelligence/skills. It's not causal.
by danilocampos 15y ago
>tv has nothing to do with it.
...k? I'm making the case for vapid content on television being symptomatic of declining intelligence/skills. It's not causal.
As to African Americans, well, okay. But my experience surrounds Latinos. In Latino culture, we've got Catholicism encouraging as much reproduction as possible while declaring contraception sinful. There's also a lot of cultural misogyny, which entitles men to take what they want, while robbing women of the agency necessary to assert their own needs. (I was spared all of this because my mom is gay. Who knows how many siblings I'd have otherwise)
I don't really see a way out of that for several more generations at least. And I'm not terribly surprised you don't see those trends – statistically, if you're on Hacker News, you're very unlikely to have had an upbringing where you got to see any of this firsthand. And that's the point.
- mmcdan 15y agoI don't think mainstream tv content is" dumbed-down" because the poor are getting more ignorant, and the only thing they'll understand is American Idol. It's 1) consuming content passively is the most enjoyable thing to do after long hours of soul-sucking work(escapism),2) Living vicariously through others via a rags-to-riches story(American Idol) gives a misguided and fleeting sense of hope(like lotto tickets), and 3)Learning about other people's problems(eg international news) is depressing when you can't see passed your own troubles. If it helps my point, I alsilo grew up around this environment.
- Prisen 15y agoWhy would you use firsthand experiences when the actual statistics are freely available?