What is up with America? Does big media really have their finger on the pulse of what the American consumer really wants — celebrity meltdowns, screw-ups and worse. The Anna Nicole Smith story dominates the news even now, two weeks after her death. Britney Spears’ bald head is glinting back at me everywhere I turn. Sure there are a handful of celebrities going green, but for every George Clooney, Leo DiCaprio, Bono or Daryl Hannah we have two Lindsay Lohans, Paris Hiltons, or Puff Diddies. Carcinogenic celebrities pile into their private jets covered in furs and jewels, in hot pursuit of the next over-stuffed gift bag. Are these the new aspirational icons of American youth or just the latest push by communications giants like Viacom, G.E., News Corp., Time Warner to set the menu for global consumerism?
I like to have fun as much as the next guy but when did we become more than just mildly amused by this stuff to the point of being totally unabashedly obsessed? Real issues are being pushed off the front pages and out of our consciousness. The war rages on, global warming continues unchecked and our Congressional leaders continue to waffle on all fronts. Is there really a rising tide of support for green initiatives – or are most people just looking to escape from the daily realities of rising gas prices, deteriorating air quality, a bad war and an out of touch president and into a world of bad reality t.v. and panty-less photo ops? Maybe we should put the celebs back on Page 6 and off the front page.
I’m just asking.
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yeah MAJOR thumbs down to celebrity culture
Agreed-the celebrity obsession is a bit out of hand. Personally, I resort to watching local stations these days as much as possible. The programming tends to be more relevant to me, and thankfully they generally shy away from the same sort of Hollywood stories that the major outlets latch onto.
That said, in my time consulting for the NAB in Washington I’ve become a bit concerned for the future of local stations–with proposed regulation changes, they could be cut off from their parent companies and starved of revenues. Unfortunately, with so many competitors in the marketplace (internet, satellite, digital cable, etc), local stations can’t compete on their own.
In response to your post about “consumerism” and global/environmental crisis:
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
Fast visuals/ words make slow emotions extinct.
Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys emotional circuits.
A fast (large) society cannot feel pain / remorse / empathy.
A fast (large) society will always be cruel to Animals/ Trees/ Air/ Water/ Land and to Itself.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
PlanetSave
EarthNewsWire
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