Not everybody perceives thinks, or reasons "truth" the way you do!

[checks-n-balances]

"Well, duh!" is probably your first reaction after reading the title of this thread. Here's my point:

Within the debate about the appropriateness of the latest cover of the New Yorker magazine, let's consider this...

From his repeated and ongoing observations of children, adolescents and adults, the late developmental biologist Jean Piaget(one of TIME magazine's Most Influential Thinkers of the 20th Century) developed a theory of cognitive development, which included "Concrete Operations", a developmental stage commonly taking place between the ages of 7 and 11. It includes a type of logic thinking but on a black-and-white, literal level, and it is the reason that certain types of abstract mathematics are not normally introduced to children until certain ages.

The "Formal Operations" stage is described this way:

"This stage, which follows the Concrete Operational stage, commences at around 12 years of age (puberty) and continues into adulthood. It is characterized by acquisition of the ability to think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available. During this stage the young adult is able to understand such things as love, "shades of gray", logical proofs, and values...

snip//

"Some two-thirds of people do not develop this form of reasoning fully enough that it becomes their normal mode for cognition, and so they remain, even as adults, concrete operational thinkers..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_cognitive_development

It is doubtful that adults who do not fully reach the "formal operations" stage of thinking are able to "get" the type of satire attempted on the magazine cover in question. That would be as high as 66% of the adult population who would take the image at face value and miss the point, thereby having their own prejudices reinforced.

And here's a lesson I've learned after making too many assumptions about how people are going to perceive life experiences as well as political ideas and opinions:

Not everybody reasons or sees things the way we do here at DU. In fact, probably half of the adult population in the U.S. doesn't think the way we do, especially when it comes to irony and satire, at least not without some orientation/explanation/education/"consciousness-raising"/commentary accompanying the idea that we're trying to communicate. (That's obvious, since we don't even see eye-to-eye on our own discussion board!)

Edited to clarify meaning of final paragraph

[Lex]

1. The New Yorker isn't for "everyone." It's not People magazine.

It never has been geared for an average audience.

It revels in its own elitism.

Always has.

[checks-n-balances]

6. You're absolutely right, and it goes along with my point

Not everybody who sees that cartoon is going to perceive the point as the creator intended.

Some DUers accuse other DUers, who raise questions about the effectiveness of the magazine cover, of not having a sense of humor. If the cover illustration was meant to reinforce everybody's existing opinions, it probably did its job very well. Those who already have a well-developed sense of satire can easily "get" the joke, even if they are repelled by the image. Others certainly did not and will not, and that's the risk that the magazine illustrator & editor took when publishing it.

I just think there were unintended consequences that came with it. Last time I checked we still had the First Amendment, and TNY had every right to publish it. I'm not sure that their decision was wise or well-thought-out.

[Ron Green]

2. I often wonder if Piaget's numbers, or Eriksen's, or Kohlberg's

can change. In other words, Can we become smarter as a species? I think part of what Obama's candidacy is offering is that very challenge.

[Hydra]

5. Smarter as a species has inherent problems

So I don't think we'll get there. Here's the main problem: conforming to society requires skills and outlook that run counter to your survival instincts. If we could guarantee that society would always be there and would be fair, it would be easy.

That's not the case, though.

[unpossibles]

3. I've noticed this is a pretty common trend

and no, a LOT of people do not get nuance or satire.

[cobalt1999]

4. I think some people just enjoy getting angry

Most don't even stop long enough to TRY and get satire, they want to jump straight to outrage.

[checks-n-balances]

8. It's hard to see the humor sometimes when some of us realize

that the smears illustrated on the magazine are taken very seriously by lots of Americans.

You may get the satire of the cover, but do you "get" why the use of this cartoon may have had unintended consequences? Things in the media like this sometimes have the effect of chipping away at the true image of a good candidate (like Al Gore and all the smears against him in 2000), which reduced his popularity enough in the polls to make it seem possible for the race to be "too close to call". We know the rest of that story.

My point is,

Why add more fuel to that possibility again, and

Is it really worth it?

[unpossibles]

9. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY BY THAT!?!?!1?

just kidding

[Bluerthanblue]

7. really good post- kind of like the theory that no one sees 'colors'

the same way.

Or how our life experiences effect the way we perceive things.

I tried to say this in a post about the cover, but failed miserably.


thanks for this post-

:hi:

[elocs]

10. I think you are being too generous to "we" here at DU.

Satire aside, I daily see many examples of the black and white thinking going on here. "We" are always right and "they" are always wrong. The "they" can be of any party as long as they refuse to line up with our way of thinking. Even within the Democratic Party here I see very little willingness to concede that someone of a differing view may have a point, or that, God forbid, they may be right. Here we don't have "my country, right or wrong", but rather "my position, right or wrong" and there are not often shades of grey. There is, however, the mindset of, "I can't believe why everyone does not believe as I do since it is obviously right".

I have no doubt that we are smarter than the average bear here at DU and even if when compared to the general population we only have half as many who remain concrete operational thinkers, that still leaves us with 1 out of 3. We all need to open our minds a little more to understand that not everyone sees things the same and if they do it does not automatically make them evil or the enemy. Not everyone get or likes the same joke and not everyone gets the same satire.

[Vanje]

11. Who knew?!

...so , so many black people, and this Idaho liberal , just havnt matured to the "formal operations" stage of cognitive development.



If 66% of readers dont "get" the joke, its not that the joke stinks, its cuz we in that lowly group have unfortunately primitive brains.

Rest easy New Yorker. You're just exemplifying your superior cognitive maturity.
We are not worthy of getting your joke.




PS. I might put a satire smiley here, but cognitively mature persons will already recognize my awesome satire.
The rest of you can suck it.