Marshall is absolutely right. This phenomenon is the inevitable consequence of a society that is constantly being barraged with a torrent of ideas reduced to their banal essence - to the point of meaningless more often than not. Whether in the commercial sphere or the political, the goal seems to be three words, preferrably all monosyllables.
"Where's the beef?"
"Read my lips."
"Yes we can."
"Drill baby drill."
This is all exacerbated by technologies like texting and twitter (and of course texting twitter tweats) which reduce the collective attention span so as to create an epidemic of contagious ADD.
Complex issues can't be reduced to simple sound bytes, but a false sound byte has more potential for generating a psychological and/or political response than a complex and nuanced truth. Too many times I've tried to explain something to a friend or family member to watch their eyes glaze over after the first minute - their nervous systems just aren't wired anymore to handle that much information.
Sadly this seems to be more to the advantage of liars than it is to those trying to disseminate the truth.
That's why telling the truth is a small package is vital. Sad, as you say, since it's hard to do and still contributes to shortening attention span.
Commenting by HaloScan
