Mass Culture Dialectics
2025-10-08
After sleeping in this morning, my day has been rather slow. I decided to skip the gym today and just chill with some radio, a cup of coffee, some cinnamon toast, and vibes. I slept in because I had some edibles last night and they were very nice, but I always get super groggy the next morning after taking them. Still though, the extra sleep is nice and will help me more than hurt me, so I'll take it.
I was having a conversation with some friends earlier this morning about mass culture. This was the dialectic: my friend's thesis was that mass culture is something that the general populace has scaled into effect, and that any disappointments we have about mass culture is the fault of the modal consumer. I had the antithesis, which was that mass culture is something that is manufactured and that the modal consumer exists as a product of the same six or so companies that promulgate most of the media we consume. Of course, it's easy for most to see me as the tin-foiled nut when issuing takes such as that, but it's just how I see things, I guess.
Nonetheless, it was a good back and forth with my friend, and I value having people in my life whom I can have those lively discussions with. But I still feel kind of like a crazy person, well, at least in the sense that perceptions that feel second nature to me can be seen as ludicrous and insane ramblings. I think that there's something to be said about that, though—the notion that people are so unconsciously open to suggestion, yet aren't aware of this dynamic.
With the sharp increase in media consumption this period in time, it makes sense that there is also more propaganda than ever. But the connotations of the word 'propaganda' always fester some kind of conversation about political economy or whatever. Here's the thing: propaganda really isn't just a political thing, but can be used to perpetuate any kind of agenda. Most writing today is persuasive writing. The agenda being promulgated isn't usually inherently political—the agenda more often than not is something as simple as buying a new consumer gizmo or to go check out that new coffee shop across the street. But the fact of the matter is still that the volume of propaganda is many orders of magnitude more than in any other period of history.
See, we celebrate things like increased global literacy, but the people who helped make the world so literate only want us to be literate enough to consume more commercials. If we get any more literate than that, the people in power would have a much harder time keeping their power. Apathy is something that people in power treasure; apathy is the ultimate precursor to obedience.
I think I need to go read Dostoevsky and cry or something.