Big Brother the cause of a decripit society?

[DeZmond]

*pokes the hornet nest of THN*

Right, Big Brother and other "reality TV" shows are, in my opinion, mindless drivel. In fact, the only purpose I think they have is that they distract talk away from the subject away from the topic of sex at breaktimes for a few minutes.

It drives me mad... these bright, gaudy magazines which follow every move of so-called "celebrities"... as if I care that someone put on ONE STONE ZOMG!!!

So... is this mindless drivel causing our society to go downhill? As people start to accept such things as some kind of lazy, effortless standard on which to base their lives, is this causing problems for the future? Can we attribute this to a general lack of ambition?

Let's have your thoughts!

 

[Pestcontrol]

The potential for mindless drivel is of all times, only with mass media becoming accessible to the lower classes is it becoming more apparent.

Live with it, and count yourself lucky to stand above it.

 

[UArch]

it kinda irritates me that people like jade got famous out of it, and shes a absolute dumbass...but yeah, i couldnt care less to be perfectly honest i dont watch tv anyway

what also annoys me is when you hear the word "superer" on an advert on tv, how long will it be before it becomes a common "word"? :/

i would prefer it if aol speak stays in the confinement of aol, but it appears its breaking loose, my advice: lock yourself indoors, hide...HIDE!

 

[BiG D]

It is my duty to point out you're doing language on the internet no favour when you neglect capital letters...

 

[UArch]

my lack of capitals looks godlike!

well, perhaps not...but thats not the point!..THE POINT!

 

[Haven]

I find the premise of this very puzzling indeed.

Many people are stupid (50% of them are below average intelligence and the other 50% spend all day gloating over this fact in a somewhat stupid way), Big Brother and TV/Movies/popular culture all cater to the lowest common denominator to maximise their potential customers. Hence TV is written, directed and targetted at stupid people.

In short big brother did not make people that way, it was explicity designed to target and exploit the fact that they were already decrepit.

Get over it and stop watching telly.

 

[UArch]

i stopped watching tv many years ago, thank god ;P

also while we are on the subject of tv, tv licenses suck! =P

 

[Pestcontrol]

Marketeers need to discover smart people as an interesting target audience that is significantly underserved!

Too bad they're too dumb.

 

[Taffy]

But smart people aren't a very good audiece really.

Going by Haven's statistics, half the population of wherever it is are clever. That cuts potential ratings in half (more or less). Now, try and get all those remaining smart people to sit down and watch a documentary on climate change, for example. A lot of smart people will choose mindless drivel i.e. Big Brother over documentaries, like my dad. He's quite clever, but he watches Big Brother (no matter how many times I slap him, he just won't listen...). This reduces the number of people watching your documentary even further, say 25% (just to make my example easier). As well as this, you have some people who would watch the programme that can't, due to social reasons, say 5%. So you've got 20% of a potential audience actually tuning in. BUT, take another 5% off for smart people who don't want to watch it because they aren't interested. So really your airing to a very small percentage of the potential audience, about 10% - 15%. Of course, are these statistcs are made up, but it doesn't really matter.

The point is, clever people are not a very good target audience, and indeed they are slipping into that dreadful world of 'reality TV' without even realising it! Were doomed!

/example

 

[Nanor]

We had a debate about this in school. Needless to say, the majority chose to argue against, giving various points about it. Ofcourse, I gurantee half went home and watched it that night.

I don´t mind "Reality" TV, as it gives me the chance to show the world, that I, for one, am not b0rked.

Faretheewell

 

[Gopha]

Ha Taffys dad watches BB, oh I shall wreck him, my point is that if you dont like it dont watch it and stop complaining about it

 

[DeZmond]

That argument is fundamentally flawed. I am an avid reader and therefore scour (and scavenge) the morning newspapers on the way to work, and it depresses me to see the attention given to this drivel. And then you've got to put up with people nattering about it... it does not only affect TV schedules, you know.

Also, something scary to remember: the people who watch it (a fair proportion of which must be really bored or morons) also have the power to vote, thus influencing your life and what you can and cannot do. Time to emigrate, methinks. *trundles off to the med*

 

[Haven]

You also have the power to vote and to influence the lives of others. Never forget that or become apathetic as so many have. One vote can and does make a difference.

 

[Pestcontrol]

So basically, dez, you got what you pay for with the newspapers you scavenged. It's still infinite value for money.


Surely there are some quality papers who focus on actual news?

Just remember this, if you emigrate, you'll just swap big brother for something else that's equally rejectable.

 

[Gizmo-5]

Haven is quite right, why is "The Simpsons" aired till its (i think) 16th season whilst futurama has been cancelled twice. (But thank god its came back )

The point is The Simpsons is easy to understand, apply bad humour (the stuff the original seasons took the mick out of) and walkon celebrities (Again what they originally mocked) and you have brain food for the masses. Futuramas humour requires background knowledge as it were, and an attention to details.

For example the madison square garden has been renamed the madison cube garden, The TV show single female lawyer is a rip of the old "Ally McBeal" (Zarg Spellings!) Bender has an allergy to Magnets (Magnets corrupt data files) The defunked robots on the backwater island are named after old computers such as the sinclair. When Dr Farnsworth says that he logged on to AoL 10 years ago and it finally connected he was reffering to the notoriously crappy service provided by this company.

But these are all nerdy humours to give intelligent people a bit of a giggle, put that in front of some clueless Glamour followers and they wont even bat a smile. TV is a business, and business must make money.

 

[Pestcontrol]

Simpsons has the same intelligent humour, or at least it had. Beavis and Butthead had some references too.


Such mutilayered programs are nice, but rare. Or i'm just dumb.

 

[Gopha]

Like Phoenix Nights, you have to have some background knowledge and watch the whole episode to find it funny

 

[pHatBambi]

Surely there are some quality papers who focus on actual news?

Yes try the Times.

 

[Pestcontrol]

I have tried the times once. Seemed like a decent paper, but i'm not in the UK that often so i do't know many.

Somebody else recommended the Telegraph as a quality paper to me.

 

[Haven]

Times, Guardian and Independant are all decent enough papers but all have their own slant due to the politics of their senior editorial teams.