Post 9-26 Class Blog- Habermas

 Our society seems to be in a spiral away from traditions of art and technology, but in the realm of belief and ideology many cling to primitive constructs, such as religion. That astounds me that something as intangible as religion is stronger than the concreteness of art and science. But this is evident is Habermas' viewing of the neo-conservatives and their methods of social influence and argumentation techniques to establish themselves as the 'norm'.
 Such a strange dichotomy that the masses inhabit: on the one hand the masses shun scientific inquiry that opposes their religious beliefs, or does not support them and on the other hand the same masses embrace modern technology, in a cult-like following, that is brought forth with scientific exploration.
 In my opinion, it seems that people's desire to believe in intangible, spiritual mythologies are meshed up with social, economic and political identities(that can be directly opposed to their religious dogma); thereby making the masses subservient to the mantra of Capitalism and consumerism of products of low quality and low cultural value. By attempting to negate cultural value and artistic quality of art, and workmanship in products--interest that are invested in the mass-production model, which yields inferior products, stand to gain from a lowering of quality expectations in the masses, bringing about a status quo of accepting products that are inferior to products of the past.
 Technological progress would have one, likely, believe that products of the present would be better than products of the past, but in many cases that is false. For instance many appliances, cars, toys, etc. of the 20th century are better than what we buy now. The quality of food is also know to be lower now than before. The fact seems to be that the capitalist model is based purely on the growth of profits and that quality and progress are not necessary components to that paradigm. As, with the example of the Iphone 5 brought up in class, it is minimally more advanced than the Iphone 4s but as the hype and media would have you believe-- 'It is a must have' gadget. And the status quo narrative is that if you don't have the newest thing you are not 'hip' or 'cool'.