Popularizers bring ‘Power to the People’

[coberst]

Popularizers bring ‘Power to the People’

Popularizer is a word I heard historian William Norton Smith use when discussing American Presidents on C-Span. He did not elaborate significantly but it was apparent to me that he used the word to describe individuals who make popular the books of authors who write about significant concepts that are seldom disseminated throughout the population.

Our educational system prepares us to become good producers and consumers. However, in the name of efficiency, our educational system leaves us ignorant of many domains of knowledge that are vital to our comprehension of matters that seriously affect the health of our culture and of the world. Psychology is just one example of such a domain.

Mr. Smith and I agree that it is essential that someone carry to the people these vital concepts that I mention.

Do you have any desire to be a popularizer?

Isn’t the Internet discussion forum an ideal medium for popularizers to perform their function?

 

[Xori]

Most people are happier to learn about the drunk driving of Paris Hilton than to pick up a book on an educational subject.

 

[coberst]

Popularizer would be a person who had studied something they thought was important, such as art history, and decided they wished to share with others this great history.

Imagine that you and many other colorblind people live on this isolated island. All inhabitants are colorblind from birth and know nothing about color; there is no word for color in their vocabulary.

Assume Fred is a health nut who exercises constantly and is always advising others to start a strict exercise routine for their health. Fred is well liked but most people on the island think that he over emphasizes the value of exercise.

One day after pursuing a specific exercises routine Fred become conscious of color. He is shocked and frightened and discontinues the exercise. Many weeks later curiosity gets the best of him and he returns to the exercise routine and there again appears the perception of color.

Fred experiments with this matter and concludes that when he performs the afore mentioned exercise routine he can perceive color constantly.

If you were Fred would you inform your friends and acquaintances of this occurrence?

How would you explain this perception to others?

How would others respond to your efforts to explain what happened?

Picture your self as Fred in this little fantasy. Picture that your inspiration is not color but art history. Could you try to popularize art history by writing about it on the Internet discussion forum?

 

[coberst]

I guess that more than one million individuals visit an Internet discussion forum each day.

Off the top of my head I guess that there are more than 100 Internet discussion boards and that there are on average 15 forums per board. I also guess that every day more than 100 thousand members visit their board.

 

[rook_b]

Was that part of your reason for your "thinking is part of reality" post on Soros? Just curious.

 

[coberst]

Was that part of your reason for your "thinking is part of reality" post on Soros? Just curious.

I consider myself to be a popularizer. I try to introduce to the reader ideas that are important and new. Soros is the author of many such ideas.