For the US at least, this recession is all about payback. Letting the finance guys (and girls) dream up paper money? Payback. An entire generation not investing enough in education? Payback. A culture of living off credit cards? Payback. Dependence on cheap Chinese labor? Payback.
Spawning a particularly mindless genre of TV that now corrupts the entire world? Payback.
I must confess that as much as I am mostly nauseated by the tabloid talk shows exemplified by The Jerry Springer Show, reality TV, WWE/WWF, tabloid style "news" channels, and even the song/dance contests, I never fully grasped what the downside to this all-American programming was. Perhaps people would spend too much time in front of the TV, perhaps they would not really develop their intellects. But so what?
Well, the most significant payback has, it seems, come in the way that the US is no longer able to sensibly discuss or debate the crucial questions that it faces.
So even while nearly one out of five American men of working age is unemployed - yes, one of out five - the rational debate is drowned out by the type of hollow arguments, petty one-upmanship and invective-filled language one would normally associate more with The Jerry Springer Show.
As Thomas Friedman points out in the New York Times, "the rise of cable TV has transformed politics in our country generally into just another spectator sport, like all-star wrestling. C-Span is just ESPN with only two teams. We watch it for entertainment, not solutions."
So here's a request to all of you - the next time you find someone you know watching senseless television of any type, intervene. Friends don't let friends watch senseless TV. The life you save may be your own.
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3 comments:
Good observations. Yes, it seems we can no longer find common ground in my country and it comes at the worst possible time. Blogs and Radio talk shows should have empowered democracy, but instead they seem to have amplified the shrill and incorrigible opinions of people on the extremes.
"I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center. " - Dwight D. Eisenhower
:-)
BTW, Indian TV is also headed in the same direction of arbitrary sensationalism at the expense of reasoned debate. Talking heads "live from so-and-so-place!!!" are given ten second slots to make their opposing points.
There is also a very un-American type of idiocy rife on Indian TV. Check out this link: http://stupidindiatv.blogspot.com/2008/09/save-your-cows-they-are-coming-help.html
Let me translate the text on the screens for your edification:
Will Krishna come to save the cows? UFO pulls cow into the sky
Till now, no clue about even one cow has been found
India TV asks: Where did these cows go?
..
These cows could be yours! Do aliens drink cow milk?
Your animals are in the crosshairs. Do aliens consider the cow Mother?
Hide your domestic animals. This may seem a laughing matter to you.
But several questions are very serious.
Are India's cows also in the crosshairs?
..
..
True photo of light over cow as soon as the aliens arrive.
(He) took a photo of his own cow being disappearing into the air.
..
..
and so on.
Dear Sir,
I completely agree about your thoughts on WWE. I was a huge fan of wrestling growing up but as I came to know more about it, I realised how big of a waste of resources it actually is. However, WWE is a billion dollar company so that pretty much explains the following they have in the US as well as across the World.
Regards,
Shoaib Qureshi
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