We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Does TV Help Make Americans Passive and Accepting of Authority?

Click here to access article by Bruce E. Levine from AlterNet

You will have to skip nearly half of the article to get to the interesting evidence and arguments he offers about the connection between passivity and TV viewing. (Scroll down to "How TV Viewing Can Make Us Passive".)