Part tres;....this is an old one.....it used to be called the "dumbing down" of America. The only thing that has changed in the ensuing decades is the addition of
"Reality Shows" and the lewder use of language. On our TV screens we have programs that are called situation comedies that are filled with references to body parts (with their functions ) in the crudest terms held together by scripts that a half-bright 10 year old could write.....shows that are devoted to young, brainless pretty people who have no visible talent, other than to pose for the camera. Many, many shows that teach us how to cook (while cursing a blue streak), how to deal with a cheating spouse or how to get one, how to lose weight or how to make a fool of oneself in front of millions. In recent weeks more air-time was given to the upcoming Super Bowl (what should happen/what could happen) than was given to coverage of Iraq, not to mention an actor's tirade complete with F bombs,...this went on for 3 days! Granted in these trying times there is a need for levity and escapism......but a sense of proportion,please! The fall-out from this endless diet of crap is that programs that are different, employ good actors and are well written fall by the wayside.
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2 comments:
I'm not a prude. I just find most of the so-called mature content on TV to be just stupid, especially when a 10 year old kid in a sitcom reads dialogue obviously written by a smirking adult.
Ever see the movie, "Network?" It predicted the rise of "reality" TV and pseudo-news.
Ray
Apropos to what Ray said, what's often described as "mature content" in the land of today's TV is often puerile; frat-boyish.
I would say that it's not actually a dumbing down of America, but rather an infantilization of America (your previous post on smokers is a good example of this, where black and white, zero-tolerance judgments become the norm). But either way you see it, there are a lot of people with a lot at stake in maintaining a dull citizenry.
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