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Papa Ratzinger, der Liebesdiktator
Wie ein Popstar werde der Papst bejubelt, meinte der Moderator am Fernsehen.
Tatsächlich erinnerte das Spektakel auf dem Kölner Marienfeld sehr ans Woodstock-Festival von 1969. 800 000 Jugendliche aus aller Welt, draussen im Grünen. Nur dass anstelle von Gitarrengott Jimi Hendrix Gottesvertreter Jospeh Ratzinger auf der Bühne stand. Begleitet von einem Jugendchor, der …weiter lesen!
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Everything Bad is Good for You
Read this post in GermanHistorical view on Johnson’s thesis
For all those who have not (yet) read Johnson’s book «Everything Bad is Good for You» : I will not go into details.
There is plenty of information about it on the net. ;-)
In his new book Steven Johnson argues that television and computer games have not made us ignorant but intelligent.
Johnson justifies his thesis psychologically. I am unable to say whether his justification is correct or not; I am studying history, not psychology! But I do support his idea for historical reasons.
About 150 years ago cheap literature for a mass audience appeared for the first time in history - love stories, thrillers, stories about cowboys and the like.
Shortly thereafter a fight against this pulp fiction began, especially in Germany (referred to as a fight against «Schmutz und Schund», standing for «dirt and trash»). The arguments were simple: penny dreadfuls can make you ignorant, criminal and are addictive. They simulate a false world and overexcite especially the young brain.
Do we recognise these arguments? They are exactly the same as those used against computer games. Just as they were the same as those used against television, cinema and comic strips previously. In the 21st century computer games are defeated for exactly the same reasons as pulp fiction was defeated in the 19th century.
Why is that? As far as I can see the question of what could be positive about pulp fiction had never been raised. The only question raised was how damaging it could be. The same is true for comic strips, TV and computer games.
Johnson is now posing the right question. He asks: What is positive about popular culture? Whether the answer will be «nothing» or «quite a lot!» is secondary. More important is that eventually the counter question was raised.
Johnson is not the first pleading for popular culture. Around 1900 G. K. Chesterton defended popular literature, identifying the true reasons behind the fight against it. Still worth reading:
G.K. Chesterton, A DEFENCE OF PENNY DREADFULS (from: The Defendant, London, 1901)
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Everything Bad is Good for You
Read this post in EnglishHistorische Sicht auf Johnsons These
Für die, die Johnsons Buch «Everything Bad is Good for You» (noch) nicht gelesen haben: Unten sind Links zu einigen lesenswerten Artikeln.
Steven Johnson meint in seinem neuen Buch, dass Fernsehen und Computerspiele nicht dumm, sondern intelligent machen.
Johnson begründet seine These psychologisch. Ob seine Begründung richtig ist, kann ich nicht beurteilen. Ich studiere Geschichte, nicht Psychologie. Ich unterstütze jedoch seine Idee aus historischer Sicht. …weiter lesen!
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