Image Driven

Misinformation in an Image Driven Culture by Ray Ciervo
Images are so much a part of our culture that a fat person need not run for President. A bald person would have a hard time getting into the upper ranks of office, too. In the political arena, image-makers are more important then speechwriters. This is a sad-but- true commentary on our culture.

One TV show, hosted by MTV, exhibits people - mostly young -who want to look like a celebrity. They will undergo painful surgery to have their noses reshaped, their breasts augmented, their fat deposits liposuctioned, and other body parts reconstructed in order to look like the beloved celebrity. This is another sad commentary on our culture. It’s the result of moving into this video frame of mind. I’m reluctant to use that phrase, “frame of mind,” mainly because I don’t believe the mind has anything to do with it. It’s a senseless pursuit.
Another TV show follows the lives of “ugly ducklings” until they can undergo massive makeovers. This includes surgery, emotional counseling, and gym workouts. They go without seeing loved ones for three months while they have no access to mirrors so they cannot see what’s happening to them. After the three months pass, they have their “reveal.” It’s the first time they see the results of their surgery and other makeover components. Their comments are usually that they now feel different. Certainly, they look different. But are they really different? Today, culture dictates we are what we look like.

What’s the cause of this phenomenon? Some would say that the obsession with image is a result of TV. That may be true, but not in the way most people think. Television and other video media have been more than a medium to portray images. They have conveyed a message also. More than that, they have changed the way we view and interpret reality.

As one of the first kids to be brought up on TV, I find that this is painful to admit. But TV has projected the idea that complex problems can be solved in a relatively short period of time. In nearly every area, TV skews reality. In the business, this is called spin. TV is supposed to be entertainment, not a medium that helps me construct a worldview. But that is precisely what it has done.
Television has also helped to rob us of reason. Neil Postman has said that the two most destructive words in TV history are “Now . . . this.” Although the words are not heard as frequently as before, they were once the words used to introduce a topic or commercial that had no relevance to what preceded it. The effect these words have is to train our minds to understand that topics can be out of context, contradictory and fragmented. In a sense, they teach us that concepts do not have to be continuous, and being contradictory doesn’t matter. Imagine trying to read a book constructed in this way. You’d walk away with no understanding of what you’d read. You’d also never learn to reason your way through a story line.
This is a long way from something like debates of years past. I’m thinking particularly of the Lincoln-Douglas debates for U.S. senator in the nineteenth century. These debates (seven of them) were at least five hours in length. They were in written form and read aloud to crowds all over Illinois.

Imagine listening to an opening argument of one hour and a half, with a response of equal length. After the first three hours, each had an hour again. This was followed by half-hour conclusions. Imagine someone trying this today. It wouldn’t happen. Why? Because people in the nineteenth century had the capacity to follow logical arguments outlining positions on politics. Today, logical arguments have nothing to do with debates. Clever one-liners, sound bytes, and image mean everything. We are more concerned that one candidate doesn’t appear taller than another. Debates comprise about an hour, including interruptions. Opening statements may be ten minutes. Then, afterward, we need a commentator to tell us who did well.
We have not only lost the ability to form an argument; we’ve lost the ability to follow one. Images replace words today. Images appeal to our emotion, not our reason - unless you’ve decided to think about what you’re seeing. Images have a way of bypassing our reason and making us respond through our passions.

Reason is downplayed today as useless and out of style. We’re told that our culture has moved from the modern position of reason to a feeling-based world. This is somehow supposed to be better.
I’ve been told that we’re linear thinkers, and for some reason that’s bad. I’ve often thought, “What other kinds of thinkers are there?” Are there circular thinkers who never come to a conclusion but just think for the sake of thinking? Are there vertical thinkers? Or are there horizontal thinkers? I’m told I think like a Greek, whatever that means. If it means I think like Aristotle, I’m flattered. However, I don’t think it’s meant as a compliment. I’m not quite sure I understand nonlinear thinking.

I think the people who make these comments to me think they’re nonlinear thinkers. But I think they’ve come to a conclusion about my linear thinking. I think they’ve recognized I think in a linear way by linear thought! As far as I’m concerned, we all use a linear argument. Some may use abstract terms, some pictorial, but the effect is the same. The Amer-Indian who speaks in a song and uses metaphors communicates in linear fashion. He isn’t educated in academia, but the jungle is his school. He uses concepts that communicate his reality. He still speaks in a linear way.

Back in TV-land, we’ve lost the ability to reason because we behold images that are out of context, contradictory, and fragmented. Every eight minutes we see a commercial that jolts our minds out of continuity. Then we’re told we have an epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder.

Listen to what Neil Postman says: “I should go so far as to say that embedded in the surrealistic frame of a television news show is a theory of anti- communication, featuring a type of discourse that abandons logic, reason, sequence and rules of contradiction. In aesthetics, I believe the name given to this theory is Dadaism; in philosophy, nihilism; in psychiatry, schizophrenia. In the parlance of theater, it is known as vaudeville.” (Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman, New York, Penguin Books, 1984), pg.105

Postman’s book is a must read for everyone interested in our culture today. Postman’s argument about television, especially the news, is that it creates a species of information which more aptly should be called disinformation. By this he doesn’t mean that it is wrong information but, rather, misleading information. It is misleading, “misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented, or superficial information-information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which in fact leads one away from knowing.” (ibid. 107)

The news may not be the only culprit of disinformation. TV shows in general disinform us about everything else. We’re told Islam is a peaceful religion, all religions are of equal worth, homosexuality is normal, and how you look is more important than who you are. The images, and the misinforming story lines (I use the phrase loosely), educate us in a secular worldview void of God- given reasoning abilities. Howard Taft need not run for President in the 21st century. His 300 pounds would disqualify him as someone who couldn’t possibly appeal to voters. Never mind his arguments - look at him!
While ruminating on this subject, I’m reminded of several other disinformation subjects, like Darwinism, pluralism, tolerance, and other Postmodern thoughts. No one has the truth, except of course the person who makes that truth claim. These are in fact, misleading misinformation bits. They lead us away from knowing.

Perhaps culture’s dive into image is really a move of desperation. Perhaps the grasp of image is a consolation for the inability to change where it really matters. As Christians, we understand and know that change only happens by the grace of God. It’s only though the revelation of the Holy Spirit that we know God can and desires to change us. Only though submission to Him, enlightened by His Word, empowered by His spirit, engulfed in His love and grace, are we capable of change. God changes us where it matters, at the core of our person.

All truth is God’s truth, whether it’s philosophical, theological, scientific, historical, or otherwise. Knowing truth is what the mind was made for. Perhaps in desperation and not knowing the truth culture has resorted to image. The corruption, spin, skewing of knowledge leads us to throw up our hands and say, “Whatever.” TV and the image- makers have led us away from knowing things as they are.

Now we view women caught in the homely trap. They can never have value because they’re not beautiful. They’ve learned that appearance is more valuable than inner core character. If someone can change her appearance, she’ll be a better person. Unfortunately, nothing that matters really changes. Once again, the misinformation is communicated. These changes will not result in a better person. In the end, we know only God can change people.

Quotes

“My friends, silence will be more acceptable to me in the discussion of these questions than applause. I desire to address myself to your judgment, your understanding, and your consciences, and not to your passions or your enthusiasms.” - Stephen Douglas when the crowd errupted in applause while he spoke.

“Even I don’t look like Cindy Crawford when I wake up.” - Cindy Crawford

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