The Assault on Reason

As a birthday gift that I received a couple of weeks ago, The Assault on Reason by Al Gore has provided some insights into the changes of the past 50 years or so in America. While I admire Al Gore's recent efforts of taking on climate change, I was and still am a bit skeptical of getting my information on matters of science from a politician. However, I was quite impressed with his newest book and have felt compelled to blog about it since I recently finished it.

The theme that Gore stresses throughout The Assault on Reason is that as a result of 'one way' media outlets, like the radio and television, Americans have been increasingly unable to participate in meaningful conversations about current events and more specifically politics that affect them. A one way media outlet is any information source that is giving information, but not allowing the listener or viewer to send back information. Everyone is familiar with this while watching the news or listening to talk radio. An opinion or fact may be discussed, but the viewer is at a loss of being able to provide their input into the subject. We are then forced to sit back and take it all in. In essence, the reasoning centers of the brain are shut down from this lack of participation.

America was founded on the belief that an informed citizenry would keep the government in balance using reason. This is a critical reason why freedom of the press is included in the First Amendment. The press, referring primarily to the printing press at the time it was written, revolutionized the way ideas were distributed and shared, and is, after direct communication, perhaps the best way to communicate ideas as it allows the reader to form their own opinions about what they’re reading. Television and radio, for the most part, don’t allow this. If you doubt what I’m saying, take for example the classic teenager who has been in front of the TV for a few hours and tunes out everything else in the room; trust me, there’s nothing going on up there, I know!

After presenting these points, which at first make it seem like America is in perhaps an inevitable downward spiral, Gore offers a solution: none other than "his own" invention, the Internet. He suggests that TV and radio are just ‘stepping stones’ between the Age of the Press and the Age of the Internet. As is evident by the success of the CNN/YouTube debate held recently, the Internet holds enormous potential to expand the national dialogue that has faded in recent decades and open up new frontiers for Democracy.


I’ve been recommending this book to everyone I know, as it has helped me to shape and fine tune my own opinions about the current state of America.