for anyone who hasn't seen it yet...

[pauraque_bk]

Thinking critically -- which was Carl's field, after all -- yields the obvious point that this is emotionally manipulative. I happened to see this comment near the top which kinda says it all: "I actually felt like crying after it was over but I don't know why" (emphasis added). Well, because it's easy to elicit that reaction with music, dramatic shots of the sky, vague statements about the future of humanity... (When I watched The West Wing they'd try this trick nearly every episode, though much more clumsily! It's perhaps telling that one of the only times it worked was when Sam talked about space travel.)

I don't mean to be too cynical about it; I enjoyed the video. I mean, I'm not made of stone. But on one level it's about Carl Sagan, and on another it's about the powerful -- but very vague! -- sense of sublimity that you can induce in people if you phrase something poetically but omit any details. Musicians obviously trade on this all the time, and so do TV shows like Cosmos.

I liked Carl Sagan, and I don't doubt his sincerity or the sincerity of the person who made the video. I also don't want to come off as frowning on works of popular science, which are valuable in themselves (no one can be an expert on everything), and also lead a few people to investigate further. I guess I just like my sublime feelings to be based on something more substantial, not that you can't have your sublime-feelings "candy" too.

It's a bit weird that people are still so easy to manipulate, considering how accustomed we are to all these tricks, the swelling music, the dramatic voiceover, etc. What's, uh... what's up with that?

K, bed now.

Comments

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

I would guess it's because the analytical function is largely separate from the emotional response function. Kittens don't cease to become cute when we know that it's evolutionarily advantageous to find baby mammals cute; you can psyche yourself into eating something you find disgusting but - unless it actually tastes good, flipping the switch - but you'll still find it gross.

And there's something comforting about that rote response in itself....? Sometimes? It seems like a fine line - for me, anyway, emotional manipulation around nature is a positive (the pelicans and the swell of music at the end of Jurassic Park! gets me every time) but emotional manipulation around... kids, for example, just turns me off. Or maybe it's less subject matter than style? I'm not sure.

[pauraque]

This is a good answer. I guess I was thinking of the ways in which we *have* genuinely grown accustomed to certain things when we see them, like how for instance, when people first saw film of a train coming towards them, they'd scream and hide under the seat. But that is different, and the kitten example is much closer.