Benjamin Franklin: Apology for Printers

"Benjamin Franklin: Apology for Printers, "


Two great quotes from Franklin's, Apology for Printers are what I have based this weeks blogs on and how they are an important premise when reading gossip magazines.



BF states, "That if all Printers were determin'd not to print anything till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed."

http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/cambridge/apology.html

"That if they sometimes print vicious or silly things not worth reading, it may not be because they approve such things themselves, but because the People are so viciously and corruptly educated that good things are not encouraged."

As I learned in my Psychology classes, many professors have attempted to explain our societies desire for celebrity gossip by theorising that it may be down to evolutionary traits, that several million years before Lindsey and Brittney the human psyche already had a thirst for page after page of celebrity gossip and smut. I truly feel, that our country capitalizes on the human's basic instinct and this is what moves millions of copies of these gossip magazines every week. The publishers of these rag magazines are people who feel that celebrities are worth gossiping over and this will indeed bring much profit. Rag magazines distort the realities of the world and in exchange they print articles and pictures in a flimsy, pathetic and degrading way where nonsense, nobodies and somebodies appear to be making fools of themselves.

Trash magazines keep the reader ignorant because they do not encourage them to question, probe, wonder and ask questions. It seems to me that they are meant to take your time and your money. People who read these magazines, watch gossip programs, how can they engage in current events in politics or try to engage in our country's business, because they are in catatonic state induced by this nonsense, but without it what would these people read on line at the grocery store or at the beach!!

http://www.starmagazine.com/ http://www.nationalenquirer.com/