Reply #32: What I've learned in 10 years of college teaching

[alcibiades_mystery]

The audience rises to the level of difficulty you set for them. This basic point about people is lost on the media, which is essentially elitist. They set a low level of discourse, and then blame the public for desiring it. They don't understand the fundamental point: if you set the level of discourse, your people will come following along. Every smart TV show in the last ten years (The Wire, Mad Men, etc.) has grasped this point, but not the political media, which has an investment in considering people too dumb too understand. It's disgraceful.