Let me ask a question, if you please.

[The Lone Liberal]

In The Dialectic of Enlightenment ---- M. Horkheimer and T. Adorno


say this about mass entertainment ……“The idea of “fully exploiting” available technical resources and facilities for aesthetic mass consumption is part of the economic system which refuses to exploit resources to abolish hunger.”

What would it matter if movies, television or radio didn’t exist? Would it not be better to direct the resources that are expended for entertainment towards something like reducing hunger?

[LuLu550]

1. sounds too heavy for the lounge!

but yes, of course it would be better to "do good" with our money rather than just entertain ourselves. But that is why we are on DU and not Free Republic. We think that way. They say "let them eat cake."

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Welcome to DU, The Lone Liberal!!!!

But, but, but... what would people do without Fear Factor, Survivor, Real Life (what an ironic name for a "reality TV" program) and all the other wannabes out there. Ya know, people go without food and eat real weird crap on some of those shows.

And they prevent us from thinking of things that are real. And doesn't the escapism that those shows embody help explain why fewer than 50 percent of the electorate votes in elections?

On edit: let last sentence make sense. Duh.

[Jim__]

3. Probably not

Think about what life would be like if we eliminated all mass forms of entertainment. Maybe even the food should be bland. Would you want to live that life?

But the question poses a false dilemma. My understanding is that we (people) currently produce enough food to feed the population of the world. It's not the resources that are spent on mass entertainment that cause hunger.

[pagerbear]

4. Exactly

Refraining from spending all that money on entertainment and actually spending it on feeding the poor are two very different things and not connected at all.

[The Lone Liberal]

5. What was the world like before the advent

Of mass entertainment? With the operation of “winner-take-all” are we better off, or, are we simply settling for the lowest common denominator?

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. Library tables.

People sat around their sitting room, front room, or living room -- whatever it was called -- and read.

Many times, my parents yearned for that kind of life. They taught us to read. Even as kids, we would sit in front of the boob tube with our noses in books.

[LuLu550]

6. Welcome to DU, Jim_

:toast: glad to have you on board!