But sometimes I think that people like Roger Ailes grokked Noam Chomsky, Marshall McLuhan, and even Mr. Rogers on a “how too” level instead of a “watch out for this” level. Now the rest of us are just playing catch up.
This thought resonated with me. I considered it a while and decided to return and post. No, I don’t think it would work for Ailes, Gingrich, et al. They certainty understood the power of the medium, but the coding of the messages were intended to create shock and invoke a primal or visceral response. The encoded message was pure FUD. The messaging violates (2) (Rephrase in a positive manner) as their messages were always negatively encoded - “Obama is ruining American values!” Their messaging violates (4) in the messages are purely prescriptive, directive, or instructive - fear AOC, only vote GOP, etc. And perhaps most importantly the never made a call for (9) by demonstrating developmental stages as they require blind loyalists who entrust thinking to the “leader” rather than attempting to build a thinking populace – "smart people believe ".
