Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The wasteland

Almost 50 years ago, the former head of the FCC, Newton Minow, described television as a "vast wasteland". As time has passed, I can't help but agree and point out that things haven't improved as the technology has advanced. I was watching a program on the History Channel tonight about the notion of "The Gates of Hell". I suppose it's possible to stretch far enough to consider this topic potentially worthwhile for a historical review, but the program as produced seemed determined to offer as much pseudo-scientific evidence as possible for the reality of Hell; that it was a real physical place where sinners were tormented for Eternity. Had the program chosen to provide a review of the history of the concept of Hell, then it might have been a valid presentation for what I think the History Channel should offer: history! Unfortunately, the producers seemed determined to push forward the manifestly religious agenda of the reality of Hell. Oooooo! Scary!! It even went so far as to reinforce the notion that the craters of volcanoes and other real-world geophysical locations were plausible as real entrances to the underworld of Hell.

The whole suite of programs (including the History Channel and the Science Channel) falling under the aegis of the so-called Discovery Channel, and their imitators, have been steadfastly pouring out this sort of television trash, even as the scientific and historical literacy of Americans continues to plummet to new lows. Is there any wonder that more and more people turn to myths and mumbo-jumbo? Many, perhaps even the majority, get their ideas from a medium they trust to dispense information, when what it really dispenses is sensationalist crapola as an excuse to push insurance, beer, cars, and loans through the eyeballs of the viewers directly into their barely-functional brains.

There was another entire program at the same time tonight, on a different channel obviously, about Area 51, another topic of apparently great interest for the scientifically illiterate, indulging in the childish fantasy world of UFOs and alien visitations. There were testimonials on that program about the legitimacy of the rumors concerning alien visitations being investigated by the US Government, and other similar hogwash. Again, the implicit message is that this balderdash is reality. Stay tuned during our adverts for the next installment of irrational trash.

TV news has descended into a realm of self-indulgent reportage, devoid of any commitment to journalistic ideals. The line between editorial content and real news has been blurred to the point where most can't tell the difference between the actual news and the babblings of pseudo-pundits - politically-motivated hacks masquerading as journalists, or experts in something.

I find the entire notion of "reality" shows as having stepped off into Orwellian NewSpeak: they're absurd nonsense that has virtually no connection with reality. I find it astonishing and disappointing that anyone feels they're entertained by this drivel. Game shows, sitcoms, soap operas ... all pure, Grade-A, nuclear waste for the brain.

I enjoy watching some sports events on TV, but I find myself so frustrated with the obligatory commentary and grotesquely exaggerated hype, the monumental stupidity of the same old questions being posed to athletes: How did losing make you feel? How do you respond to your critics? Do you feel any pressure coming in to the big game? And of course, the endless adverts ...

On cable, I have scores of movies to choose from ... and mostly nothing worth watching.

Dotted here and there amidst the desert of nonsense is an occasional oasis of rationality, or real information, or entertainment. Somehow, the Daily Show survives and represents the only news worth watching. Occasionally, some reasonably informative science documentaries are produced, despite being drowned out by the howling mob of misinformation. But Newton Minow's comment still applies today and apparently the public has such an appetite for rubbish, the wasteland will never change. It's a formula that works, I suppose.

It might be that I'm the one with a problem. There's a simple solution, naturally - don't watch it! Sometimes I find myself drawn to watch certain programs, despite my anticipation that I'll be frustrated by them - it's sort of a morbid fascination, perhaps, with what the producers are going to do with a nominally interesting topic. It is amusing to see how bad a program can be, at times.

12 comments:

===== Roger ===== said...

Did you really think the History Channel is about history? Hey, as a Christian I do believe in a real hell, but we do agree that it doesn't belong on the History Channel. A religious channel, certainly...but not THC, unless that now stands for The Hell Channel. I would expect you not to watch any given religious channel, and therefore, not to have to be surprised unpleasantly by the appearance or nature of such material. Now if they did a special on the history and influence of a religion, or on the life and times of am influential religious *and* historical figure such as Mother Teresa, Luther, Wesley, Billy Graham, or any particular pope, I could see that. But hell? That's entirely in the realm of theology and belief. It's no different than turning on the Golf Channel and watching a show about the Ten Commandments. That is, unless their commandments are "Thou shalt not hit a slice into the water hazard", etc. :-)

The Weather Channel's supposed to be about weather; but so much of what it offers (in between barge loads of commercials) is impertinent fluff. The Discovery Channel seems to be mostly about "discovery" of extreme-sport pseudoscience (e.g., the screaming, Evel Knievel style of "XTREME INSANE" storm chasers it features). Actual music on MTV? Yeah, and I've got prime acreage 15 miles E of Miami to sell you.

No, by in large, TV is about ratings, and shameless pandering to ten-second attention spans. Somehow, those who market and produce programming for most of these channels perceive that the more XTREME INSANE, the louder, the crazier, the more bizarre and on-the-fringe, the better -- at the expense of actual understanding, informativeness and topical appropriateness.

The "Dumbing Down" of America is a concern shared (albeit with different motivations at times) by the well-educated amongst liberals, conservatives, the religious and atheists alike, who give a damn about this society's future. Are we doomed to nothing more than endless superficiality, inversion or distortion of knowledge, blind idolatry of uninhibited self-gratification, and ever-shortening attention spans? Look no further than some of the TV examples you provided for the basis of such concerns.

As for me, I used to get amused at how rotten some of the programming was, but even that lost its luster. What really turned the tide for me was when commercials discussing 4-hour erections started playing before the ears of my then-6 year old kids watching shows during the daytime (football, probably). That's just going too far...another example of the difference between having the right, and doing what's right.

Believe or or not, I don't even watch religious TV; it's too simplistic, shallow, pandering to worldly culture, and money-driven, for the most part. I'd rather crack open the actual Bible, along with texts thereabouts by intellectual theologians, and actually *think* about the messages therein...

What *do* I watch? Dallas Cowboys and OU Sooners games with steadfast fervor, occasionally other sports such as Olympics or other Dallas teams....sometimes I watch a crime drama with Elke, or a Netflix movie. Otherwise, I've embraced the "Just don't watch it" solution. It's a great thing not to waste my valuable time, not to mention whatever brain cells I have left, on scientific(ally deprived) crockumentaries, XTREME INSANE bullcrap, worldly distortions of religious ideals, or so-called reality-TV, in between 15 minutes of screaming commercials out of every 30.

The Queen Mother said...

Likewise, we bought a Mac Mini and handed in the Dish. We now pick our own shows to watch. Oh, the entire Star Trek, TNG collection on our mantle serves as a reminder of what the rest of TV entertainment could be.

Anonymous said...

Although far from a wasteland, I did not see anything in this post about Nova? What a great television series!

BrentSTL said...

Actually Chuck, History (as it's been known for a couple of years now) is part of A&E Television Networks, which is a partnership between Hearst, Disney/ABC and NBC Universal (soon to be a part of Comcast). Other channels include A&E, History International, The Biography Channel, the Lifetime family of networks and Military History, a competitor to Discovery Communications' The Military Channel.

Chuck Doswell said...

NOVA wasn't mentioned primarily because their programs on tornadoes have been simply awful. NOVA is like all the rest of the putative 'science' programs on commercial TV ... they hire external production companies to do their programs. And for reasons I find inexplicable, these production companies seem determined to do a poor job with 'documentaries' about tornadoes.

See: http://www.flame.org/~cdoswell/crock/crockumentaries.html

JustmeKaren said...

This speech http://youtu.be/1cfwsfGqgPM by Edward R. Murrow, portrayed by David Strathairn in the film "Good Night and Good Luck" illuminates what you have written so well.

There are shows that inform and enlighten. But they are rare, and probably not in demand. We are willingly dumbed down because it seems to make life easier. But it does not make for a better life; rather, it makes for a more limited life. It sucks the dignity out of our existence, and leaves us hostage to our own, self limited whimsy.

JustmeKaren said...

This is the complete body of the speech...

http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/hiddenagenda/murrow.html

Anonymous said...

I enjoy watching Frontine on PBS. This is perhaps the most informative program on television...

Chuck Doswell said...

Frontline is indeed quite informative at times. It has inspired a blog of mine, in fact ...

http://cadiiitalk.blogspot.com/2010/05/thoughts-as-memorial-day-approaches.html

Scott said...

NOVA has increasingly become more like those 'documentaries;' like those found on Discovery and others. The last time I watched NOVA a few years ago, the episode was reduced to 'sound bite' type interviews, fast cuts from one scene to another, and lots of computer special effects. I don't know when NOVA 'lost' it, but they have produced great documentaries in the past. Remember the NOVA episode on storm chasing from 1985? Still one of the best 'chasing' documentaries ever made.

Chuck Doswell said...

Scott,

Go back and re-view that 1985 NOVA documentary on tornadoes ... waaaaay too much of that program was devoted to weeping, praying survivors of the Barneveld, WI tornado. Such content added nothing to the science but was given undue emphasis, no doubt for its emotional impact. I had that episode in mind when I wrote my earlier comment.

Scott said...

There are still a few shows on TV that aren't total wastelands.
BookTV (CSPAN2 on the weekends)
Any show produced by Ken Burns.
Some shows on PBS (Frontline, Nature, and Bill Moyers)