Hello!!!
I was just watching a movie on television when I noticed that the commercials were actually getting pretty good. It seems as though they are putting quite a bit of production value into them nowadays. If they keep this up, they are going to be better than the television shows very soon.
I’m quite disappointed in television nowadays, as I guess most people are. Writers are pretty much a thing of the past and the counterfeit reality shows have replaced what little creativity there was in television. Talent shows are no longer a blurb on somebody's resume, they are now the launching pad for “stars”. The networks declare some unknown singer a star and by the next day, they have released an album which will sell a million copies for no good reason. The media tells us who we are to “idolize” next and then we, being the good little dimwits that we are, revere them.
Where have all the creative people gone? Occasionally, we may find them making movies. Those Wilson brothers have been out there creating amazingly clever slices of life. But, far too many people are making movies by beating some dead horse of an old television program. There was a time when television was considered far below movies on the totem pole of artistic classification. Now, television shows that have been mocked for decades suddenly become the hottest movies at the local super-plex.
Have they totally run out of ideas in American show business? It would appear so. In the book Fahrenheit 451, the wife of the main character would find herself watching a screen full of nonsensical gibberish and eye catching images. I think that, in many ways, we are at 451. We have reached a point at which people are so afraid of offending anyone that they really don’t even try to push the envelop any more. You wouldn’t find a creative, cutting edge show such as All in the Family anywhere on television or at the movies. The talented people who once went out there to seek new and entertaining ideas are so afraid of being classified as offensive that they pretty much have been stifled, leaving us totally void of originality.
This phenomenon isn’t confined to the entertainment business. Almost every aspect of our lives is trampled upon as we attempt to make all things in life good and equal. You can’t have “winners and losers” anymore, someone may be offended. So, in such American pastimes as little league baseball, everyone gets a trophy so that no one feels “left out” and they spirit of competition is gone. Competition is looked at as being some evil entity even though that is exactly what brought us to such an incredible level of ability in so many fields. 12 year old girl swimmers of today are swimming better than Johnny Weismuller ever hoped to. That is because of competition and the astonishing spirit in so many of our best young people. But now that is considered a bad thing and all of the little children need to feel good about themselves, not because of anything that they may have accomplished, but because they simply are. We are teaching our kids that they needn’t really put much effort into anything, they can “feel good” about themselves because they got out of bed and made it to school. There is very little reason for our youth to excel and put forth effort anymore. When you teach them that there are never any “losers”, you have pretty much told them that there are no winners either. Why would any young man feel as though he should strive to stand out at a little league game when there isn’t really any difference between what the winners and losers accomplish?
There are other countries on this planet that don’t behave in such a manner. China isn’t telling their people to feel good about themselves and make nice with each other. They are out there competing with us for position and if we keep this ridiculous behavior up, they will surpass us within the century. America is losing it’s competitive edge and it’s creativity and all on a large world screen where everyone can see that we have totally eliminated the need for people to break new ground and endeavor to be bold and different. We are telling the entire planet that we have run out of ideas and we not only don’t care, but we actually LIKE things this way.
What a shame. History is written by the winners and I would hate to see what people will say about us when our civilization crumbles. I’m not sure what it would take to turn things around. Unfortunately, I think that something devastatingly ominous would have to occur before we realize what we are doing. The generation of people who won world wars and built this country to be what it is today are dying out and that’s a dreadful ignominy. They were born into hard times and they learned how to become strong out of necessity.
My fear is that we will do the opposite, create a generation of people who are losers and weaklings. As long as we try to eliminate competition and creativity, we are never going to get back onto the path of greatness that Tom Brokaw discussed in his book The Greatest Generation. So, until we let the competitive nature of human beings run wild, we are doomed to defeat. Of that, I am sure.
I was just watching a movie on television when I noticed that the commercials were actually getting pretty good. It seems as though they are putting quite a bit of production value into them nowadays. If they keep this up, they are going to be better than the television shows very soon.
I’m quite disappointed in television nowadays, as I guess most people are. Writers are pretty much a thing of the past and the counterfeit reality shows have replaced what little creativity there was in television. Talent shows are no longer a blurb on somebody's resume, they are now the launching pad for “stars”. The networks declare some unknown singer a star and by the next day, they have released an album which will sell a million copies for no good reason. The media tells us who we are to “idolize” next and then we, being the good little dimwits that we are, revere them.
Where have all the creative people gone? Occasionally, we may find them making movies. Those Wilson brothers have been out there creating amazingly clever slices of life. But, far too many people are making movies by beating some dead horse of an old television program. There was a time when television was considered far below movies on the totem pole of artistic classification. Now, television shows that have been mocked for decades suddenly become the hottest movies at the local super-plex.
Have they totally run out of ideas in American show business? It would appear so. In the book Fahrenheit 451, the wife of the main character would find herself watching a screen full of nonsensical gibberish and eye catching images. I think that, in many ways, we are at 451. We have reached a point at which people are so afraid of offending anyone that they really don’t even try to push the envelop any more. You wouldn’t find a creative, cutting edge show such as All in the Family anywhere on television or at the movies. The talented people who once went out there to seek new and entertaining ideas are so afraid of being classified as offensive that they pretty much have been stifled, leaving us totally void of originality.
This phenomenon isn’t confined to the entertainment business. Almost every aspect of our lives is trampled upon as we attempt to make all things in life good and equal. You can’t have “winners and losers” anymore, someone may be offended. So, in such American pastimes as little league baseball, everyone gets a trophy so that no one feels “left out” and they spirit of competition is gone. Competition is looked at as being some evil entity even though that is exactly what brought us to such an incredible level of ability in so many fields. 12 year old girl swimmers of today are swimming better than Johnny Weismuller ever hoped to. That is because of competition and the astonishing spirit in so many of our best young people. But now that is considered a bad thing and all of the little children need to feel good about themselves, not because of anything that they may have accomplished, but because they simply are. We are teaching our kids that they needn’t really put much effort into anything, they can “feel good” about themselves because they got out of bed and made it to school. There is very little reason for our youth to excel and put forth effort anymore. When you teach them that there are never any “losers”, you have pretty much told them that there are no winners either. Why would any young man feel as though he should strive to stand out at a little league game when there isn’t really any difference between what the winners and losers accomplish?
There are other countries on this planet that don’t behave in such a manner. China isn’t telling their people to feel good about themselves and make nice with each other. They are out there competing with us for position and if we keep this ridiculous behavior up, they will surpass us within the century. America is losing it’s competitive edge and it’s creativity and all on a large world screen where everyone can see that we have totally eliminated the need for people to break new ground and endeavor to be bold and different. We are telling the entire planet that we have run out of ideas and we not only don’t care, but we actually LIKE things this way.
What a shame. History is written by the winners and I would hate to see what people will say about us when our civilization crumbles. I’m not sure what it would take to turn things around. Unfortunately, I think that something devastatingly ominous would have to occur before we realize what we are doing. The generation of people who won world wars and built this country to be what it is today are dying out and that’s a dreadful ignominy. They were born into hard times and they learned how to become strong out of necessity.
My fear is that we will do the opposite, create a generation of people who are losers and weaklings. As long as we try to eliminate competition and creativity, we are never going to get back onto the path of greatness that Tom Brokaw discussed in his book The Greatest Generation. So, until we let the competitive nature of human beings run wild, we are doomed to defeat. Of that, I am sure.
posted by Meg Kelso | 10:16 AM
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