Cultural Deprivation?
by Oneyedjack
Cultural Deprivation?
Every once in a while an event, question, advertisement or inane Yahoo headline enters
my personal sphere and I’m enveloped in an overwhelming cloud of cluelessness. It is, at
times such as this, that I wonder—sarcastically, and to myself—if perhaps I might be
culturally deprived?
One such event recently occurred while I was perusing the news and events board of a
newspaper here in Pennsylvania. Now, most of you are familiar with these web “Talk
Back,” or “Comments” sections that most newspapers and television outlets have on their
sites; it’s a great gimmick for advertisers and—in a lot of cases—for Neanderthals to
anonymously post racist or misogynistic crap.
So, I’m going through the ‘topics’ section when I spy one that reads; “Jon and Kate plus
Eight,” added to this hed was the fact that it was a poll…something to do with whether or
not Kate was too controlling and/or cranky. My curiosity being aroused, I just had to
check out the poll as well as the ensuing comments; in addition to wanting to find out
who—or what—the hell is a Jon and Kate plus Eight.
Turns out that J&K+8 is a reality TV show coming to us from TLC—The Learning
Channel. From what I know—or have glimpsed—of reality shows; the pairing of reality
show and The Learning Channel would appear to be an oxymoron of the nth degree.
But, I digress; back to the poll/comments on this website board. As it turns out, it
appeared the poll was a secondary aspect as the vast majority of the more than nine pages
on this particular ‘thread’ had to do with dissecting every nuance of these two—Jon and
Kate—people and their eight kids (sextuplets +2). No, I did not read each and every
comment/post; it might have lead to a cultural overload.
In reading those comments that I did read, it became apparent that a heck of a lot of
people are really, really serious about this kind of garbage; of course, I should not find
that so surprising when one realizes that more people vote for American Idol than do for
American Election; I find this totally fascinating and totally repugnant at the same time.
Now most of you who read this column on a regular basis are aware of the fact—from
past rants—that I am not a big TV watcher. Way back—1961—when there were only
three networks in the United States; a guy named Newton Minnow—Chairman of the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—gave a speech to the National Association
of Broadcasters. Even though this speech is counted among one of the top 100 best
speeches of the 20th century by many authorities; it is best known for only two words out
of the 1500 plus total: “…vast wasteland.”
Over the years the common reference/usage is “Television is a vast wasteland,” a
statement that I didn’t necessarily agree with back in 1961; however, I most assuredly do
agree with today and have since about 1974. To be fair to Minnow I’m pasting the
paragraph from which those two words are taken, if you wish to read the entire speech
I’ve enclosed the link also, just type it into your browser.
http://janda.org/b20/news%20articles/vastwastland.htm
“But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your
television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine,
newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued
to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast
wasteland.”
I know, I digress again. As a kid—and an avid Science Fiction reader—I could not wait
for the future; the Information Age, as it were. Well, the Information Age is here and I
find it sucks! This coming from someone who as a 10-year old used to sit on the roof
with a short-wave radio trying to tune in the world. This coming from someone who has
been reading the printed word since the age of five. This also from someone who sat in
front of the old floor-model Philco during the war years—while the “blackout shades”
were drawn—listening to “newscasters” such as Robert Trout, Fulton Lewis, Jr., Edward
R. Murrow and Walter Winchell.
Yes, the Information Age is here and if one has a computer and is able to pick and choose
through the vast wasteland (Yahooization) known as the Internet; one can keep
reasonably well-informed. But you’d never know that when you open up your browser,
for example, to YAHOO! home page and you are greeted with a headline like: “What
happens when we die? find out now. Or another one of my favorites: “Where are the
most romantic places in America to park?
Of course, I suppose this works in this day and age when the attention span of the average
American is 1.5 seconds…you have to catch ‘em quick. I like to call it in search of
stupidity 101.
Another cop was killed in Philly this week, the economy is in the tank, folks can’t afford
gas, food or medicines, more than 65 percent of kids in this city can’t get through high
school and many of those that do can’t read beyond a 4th grade level. Everything you
touch is “Made in China,” when you call for assistance you’re talking to “Mike” in
Bangladesh, we are the largest debtor nation in the Universe with all of that debt being
held by China, India and Japan…and we’re obsessed with Jon and Kate plus Eight?
There most assuredly is a ‘vast wasteland’ out there all right; and it is located between the
ears of the vast majority of Americans! But, I suppose thinking is such a taxing exercise;
much easier to gaze blankly at the bread and circus emanating from the big screen.
“Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are
even stupider!”
George Carlin