“…commercialization is a valuable part of the public sphere: ‘dumbing down’ is another term for ‘making accessible’: and the most trashy culture provides some of the most interesting thinking about the workings of the public sphere” (McKee 67).
I think I agree with the last portion of this quote from McKee rather than the first part. Popular culture, I believe, does provide a wide range of interests in the public sphere and gives insight as to what the working class sees as every-day issues that the public is dealing with. This seems to be the case because the working class can relate to issues or situations, possibly learning a lesson from the story or maybe even discovering something about themselves they didn't realize before. It also gives these people an example of what may be appropriate or accepted by others in their relationship to the culture. These can all be useful interpretations about how culture works in the public sphere. I feel that the 'dumbing down' part of this quote enters into another realm however. From my perspective, 'dumbing down' is trying to reach an audience that will believe anything you tell them; a gullible audience that can be easily persuaded. In today's society, some of the most uninformed people might be the more wealthy class (Paris Hilton), depending on the individual. When dealing with the political election of 2008, both of these perspectives apply. Some of the working class culture might get all their information from television commercials or billboards that really give no useful information to the voter. Or perhaps the citizen is not even registered to vote because they know so little about the situation. I believe this is the part of commercialization that is 'dumbing down'. It is not making information more accessible but telling people how to think or vote. But if the working class has the initiative, has been registered to vote, then they can read for themselves and think for themselves. Certain commercialization gives us positive information which can help mold our interpretation of the election while other commercialization tells us how to think.
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Another "dumbing down" could be the flood of information given to the public. Too much of anything has proven to be an ungood thing. The amount of so called news has so polluted the airwaves and internet, that making an informed decision on anything is like flushing a whole case of toilet paper down in one flush. Some is good, but all is not better! If one could sort through all the informational layer and get to the core of the topic, one would end up with rough, hollow paper shell that has little of no use to anyone.
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