Intelligent discourse on the important issues of the day has largely gone out the window.

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	• True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society Farhad Manjoo Wiley, 2008 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Kinda makes you think

One of the few books that I have had to read in one sitting. It forced me to reconsider a few assumptions I had been leaning towards, (e.g., Bush somehow stole Ohio in 2004). It also gave me serious pause about the future of our democracy in an age when partisans of every stripe can so finely tune a message, engineer facts, and manipulate the media (with the media's acquiesence) so as to undermine serious debate. I strongly agree with one of the other reviewers that this book should be part of every high school's required reading list.

Intelligent discourse on the important issues of the day has largely gone out the window.

It may be hard to believe but the fact of the matter is that a significant number of Americans still insist that Sadam Hussein possessed WMD despite the fact that not one shred of evidence has emerged to justify this conclusion. Likewise, large numbers of Americans firmly believe that George W. Bush stole the 2004 Presidential election in the state of Ohio when every reputable study has concluded otherwise. The American electorate is hopelessly divided on these and countless other issues. And what is most alarming about all of this is that the facts don't seem to matter anymore. In his new book "True Enough: Learning to Love In A Post-Fact Society" author Farhad Manjoo examines the dynamics of how the American media has responded to and taken advantage of the seemingly irreparable rift that has developed among the American electorate. It is a fascinating case study.
When talk radio first emerged in the late 1950's and early 1960's virtually all of the shows were local and in most cases the hosts made a conscientious effort to present all sides of an issue. In 1949, the Federal Communications Commission had issued the Fairness Doctrine which in essence prevented a station from day after day presenting a single point of view. When Ted Turner launched CNN in 1980 the idea was to present hard news to an audience thought to be hungry for such information. However, the Fairness Doctrine was discontinued in 1987 and as a result the landscape of broadcast journalism and talk radio slowly began to change.
I think that is is fair to say that conservatives have come to dominate the world of talk radio for at least the past 10-15 years while the liberal point of view is on display nearly 24 hours a day on cable networks like CNN and MSNBC. Broadcasters have quietly decided that it is much more profitable to cater to an audience with a particular point of view than trying to be objective. Hence the emergence of people like Rush Limbaugh, Chris Matthews, Keith Olberman and Lou Dobbs who has morphed from a once highly respected financial news anchor into someone resembling Howard Beale from the motion picture "Network". Add to all of this the plethora of partisan websites and highly opinionated bloggers of all stripes and what you are left with is a hopelessly divided nation.
In "True Enough" Farhad Manjoo explains that it is really the audience that has changed dramatically over the past ten or twelve years. It appears that most of us are tuning out other points of view. More and more of us are cocksure that what we believe has to be right and that everybody else is wrong. And so we turn to programming that jives with our own beliefs. Manjoo illustrates the problem with a discussion of two concepts he dubs "selective exposure" and "peripheral processing". After reading Manjoo's extensive analysis you will come away with a far better understanding of how this problem has evolved over time. Unfortunately. Manjoo believes that the situation is not likely to get much better anytime soon.
For the most part I found "True Enough: Learning To Live In A Post-Fact Society" to be a pretty interesting read. However, I tend to agree with another reviewer who found that the book began to lose a bit of steam towards the end. Nevertheless, the ideas contained in "True Enough" are well worth your time and consideration. The polarization of the American electorate will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. If the events of 9/11 only served to divide us further one wonders if there is any scenario that will reverse these disturbing trends. Recommended reading.

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Book is true enough

This book challenges the conventional thinking that new media democratize information and will lead to greater vetting and truth. On the contrary, the author argues that new media encourage the retreat into reality tunnels. The greatest benefit of the book is a detailed analysis of the psychological factors that go into propaganda. It explains why "Swift Boating" works. Though I find what Manjoo says to be insightful and correct, I'm also wondering if there is also a nostalgia for solidity, to the days when there were less media, and diminished freedom of expression due to the top-down model of the one-to-many media structure of old. I think the warnings he makes about our tendency to regress into info tribes should be heeded. Does he want to a return to the Jeffersonian ideal of educated elites, or a newspaper saturated public sphere? Oddly, the solution, I think, is rather old, which is to use the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, which is to not hold onto some notion of mediated truth, but to surf it as an engaged, mindful observer.

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Superbly Articulates The Challenge of Mass Communication

This book is superb. And as a communication professional, I was both intrigued and saddened by the truth he's been able to articulate.

At the same time, I give it a "4" because it's a bit of a haul reading it. It's not a lack in his writing. It's the fact that he honors the complexity of the situations and problems he's considering. It shouldn't be written any other way. But be prepared to think about what you read.

Have seen a few reviews dis-liking his conclusions on specific issues. All I can say is that after 20 years of consumer research on message and communication issues, he's articulated some of the really tough stuff to get a handle on. And that may offend a few people who really don't want to understand how prejudiced we all may be. (Their reviews are case in point for his commentary.)

So, read it. It's superb. And, send it on. But, don't expect easy "answers". There really aren't any. And, that's what I like best about the book.

I'm tired of books claiming to offer simple answers. There's aren't "7 steps" to happiness and utopia. Humanity is too complicated for communication "theorists" to box into one single corner.

While this book overtly discusses political situations, it should be read by every marketing and advertising professional.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Advance praise for True Enough

"The news media are supposed to help us understand the world, and faster, better, more varied commun-ication technologies are supposed to enrich that process of understanding. True Enough explains why things have so often worked in reverse?and why Americans no longer disagree just about opinions and political values, but about basic factual realities. This problem of 'truthiness' is depressingly familiar, but Farhad Manjoo adds useful information and insights about its origins, effects, and possible solutions."
?James Fallows, National Correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and author of Breaking the News

"Well worth reading. Make no mistake: this is no run-of-the-mill exposé of media bias, but a sophisticated analysis of the ways and means by which lies and distortions do so well in today's fractured, cynical media world."
?Todd Gitlin, Professor of Journalism and Sociology, Columbia University, and author of The Bulldozer and the Big Tent

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