Quote: (05-22-2011 07:46 PM)Vitriol Wrote:
For those of you not from the U.S. this is the kind of garbage we have to compete with:
Notice who is acting the most "manly" in this video.
This type of thing is pretty standard American TV. A couple of things it shows:
1. Feminization of American society. A lot of our most popular shows today deal with the type of stuff you see in this video: gossip, social relations, relationship or family drama, interpersonal conflicts, etc. That's what drives ratings in this society.
Those are all things that appeal primarily to women. Men don't really care to watch people argue over minutiae or evaluate random breakups and social dramas. They like action, and prefer to just get to the point with it.
The American media, with its heavy focus on gossip, celebrity worship(their lives, their clothes, who they're dating), reality tv(which most often features a bunch of people arguing and manufacturing drama) and news like this is built primarily for women. Women love drama, and they love to talk about it.
This all makes sense when you consider the fact that 85% of consumer spending in this country(spending the American economy relies on) is done by women. Advertisers want them watching-there's a lot of money to be made.
2. Overanalysis of crap that doesn't matter. These people are carrying themselves like serious analysts, the way you'd expect people who are talking about important issues(the economy, geo-politics, or other pressing matters that require dilligent evaluation) to talk. Yet the subject of discussion is a reality TV show and a couple of bickering parents. People are getting paid millions of dollars to sit around and talk about this crap. They're not creating anything except drama.
When you hear people talk about the American society circling the drain, this is what they mean. Perhaps the end of days is not imminent, but there has certainly been an erosion of culture.
Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time.