Luddite era lesson: do you want to go back to paying $600 for a VCR? 

Funny, I was searching for descriptions of machine breaking by the Luddites in early 19th century England to use as parable for that sketchy idea I had yesterday to josh the anti-amateur journalist crowd into seeing how they appear to others. I came across this appeal to calm. It's a handbill that serves as a better illustration of the arguments for offshore production.

Huh? 

Catching up on reading about the attempted copyright infringement provision and other proposals by the U.S. Justice Department to strengthen the DMCA, I ran across the cover letter (.pdf file) to the speaker.

I'm familiar with all kinds of threats to the public's health and safety, from workplace bullying to bad hand-washing practices, but I'm scratching my head about how intellectual property violations work into the picture, and annoyed that yet another business benefit is being spun that way. It's only an attempted spinning violation because I can't see anybody buying it.

They think we're idiots; how does that make you feel? 

I'll have to get Al Gore's new book. I like what he's been saying on his publicity tour about the media, and another related point he seems to imply in his thesis is a growing lack of respect for the intelligence of the citizenry.

You see it all the time, and the government, business and media all do it. Much as I like Keith Olbermann, I thought I saw him doubting if the masses deserve much respect when he interviewed Gore last week. OK, part of Olbermann's charm is he's a smartass. Still, a little deference to the folks who pay your bills, please. The public safety threat spin attempt above is another example. Here are a few more:

- "They [Muslim extremists] attack us because they hate freedom." We're supposed to be satisfied with that simplistic argument. The implication is we couldn't understand anything more complex.

- Policies favoring business in general (including very big businesses with all kinds of tax breaks) are spun as benefits for small business, going for a populist vibe -- or in the case of copyright as benefits for individual artists, going for a different kind of appeal.

- Lowest-common-denominator thinking in all kinds of media from primetime TV to trade publications. Publishers and advertisers seem to like to think of their audience as the great unwashed, always trotting out the dimmest bulb in the focus group as the face you must speak to in getting a point across. "Just look at the ratings for reality TV and Jerry Springer -- these idiots don't deserve any better." Or, "This reader doesn't even know how to spell his own company's name -- that's who you're writing for."

- The advertising copywriter who thinks that working up cheerleader-like enthusiasm with lots of exclamation points will somehow transfer the glee to a prospective buyer. Or here's the one that pisses off my dad, and me: putting a 3-story inflated dinosaur outside a retail establishment as an irresistable beacon to our childlike minds. The sheer wonder of it will propel us into the store and open our wallets.

I guess I'd prefer that all manner of people sending ideas out into the public sphere would behave more like the idealist teacher who believes students will rise to the level of expectations of them. It might make the mass message senders feel smart and superior to think of the people who pay their bills as the idiot squad, but the overall effect ultimately diminishes everybody, everything.