A depressing insight into the dumbing-down of everything.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...It is hardly self-perpetuating. It does not fuel itself, it does not create a market or audience...

I disagree.




But I also need some sodding sleep - it's 3am!

[FBM]

...Soap Operas are popular because people enjoy them. People don't enjoy them because they are popular.
The same with any other form of entertainment or tabloid.
It's easy to blame the world around you, not so easy to admit that humans are idiots, even the best of us.

But were living under a system that acts to compound any innate idiocy as opposed to dispelling it.

It is not necessarily an inevitable written-in-stone fact of life that the bulk of people in any given situation, if provided with a free choice in the matter, will always pick the lowest, least informing/thought-provoking mind-numbing form of entertainment over any others.

It is however inevitable that once such trash begins to rise in popularity, all things being equal that rise in popularity will if left unchecked become self-perpetuating, with low-intellect and low-entertainment being caught in a positively reinforcing feedback loop.

So whilst it is true on the one hand, that the lowering standard of entertainment output in recent times has been simply due to the audience having more choice in the matter. It is also true that this lowering standard of entertainment has in turn has a detrimental effect on the audience intellect (which then in turn has a detrimental effect on their choices - thus forming the aforementioned feedback-loop).

I would disagree, quite simply because there is no reason why these people are necessarily forced in to occupying their time with the mundane. It is a self-imposed affliction.
The television has an off button, books can simply be picked up and opened at any time. The internet provides a valuable commodity for research on entertainment and access to a wide variety of more 'advanced' entertainment, or reviews of such at the very least.
They could simply go outside, talk to their friends or family, buy model kits, pick up an instrument, purchase a book or dvd - or even download them for free. They choose not to do any of these things, they choose to watch reality television, they choose not to read newspapers but choose to read tabloids. There is option, and there is choice, and they are the ones who create the market for them. If there was no willing audience, none of these things would exist.
It is hardly self-perpetuating. It does not fuel itself, it does not create a market or audience, it appeals to one. It expands not because it has the power or influence to do so, but because it feeds off the desires of the audience.
In the words of my sister:
"I have to be in the mood for something deep."

Utter bullocks, classifying things as 'deep' simply because they're not a romantic comedy or action film.

tl;dr

Fukkin' Walled j00.

Oh, shit. I actually, really can't understand that. 'walled'? I have a guess, but, honestly...

[orpheus]

I do not like sports. Never have. Since the rest of the world seems to love them, my experience of mass communications is rather weird and kind of fun: half of what I hear or read is absolute gibberish to me.

[Trolldor]

Oh, shit. I actually, really can't understand that. 'walled'? I have a guess, but, honestly...

Giant Wall of text.

Fukkin' Walled.

[FBM]

Oh, shit. I actually, really can't understand that. 'walled'? I have a guess, but, honestly...

Giant Wall of text.

Fukkin' Walled.

Got it. Gracias.

[von Starnberg]

I'd rather people read Hello magazine than Baudrilliard or Sartre or any of that Gallic tommyrot!

Is there any evidence to support the supposition that people are getting stupider? Well, apart from all the posts on Rationalia......

[Trolldor]

I'd rather people read Hello magazine than Baudrilliard or Sartre or any of that Gallic tommyrot!

Is there any evidence to support the supposition that people are getting stupider? Well, apart from all the posts on Rationalia......

Well, the use of the term 'stupider'...

[Clinton Huxley]

I'd rather people read Hello magazine than Baudrilliard or Sartre or any of that Gallic tommyrot!

Is there any evidence to support the supposition that people are getting stupider? Well, apart from all the posts on Rationalia......

You'd rather stab someone in the back than read Sartre...

[klr]

I'd rather people read Hello magazine than Baudrilliard or Sartre or any of that Gallic tommyrot!

Is there any evidence to support the supposition that people are getting stupider? Well, apart from all the posts on Rationalia......

You'd rather stab someone in the back than read Sartre...

I'd rather be stabbed in the back than read Sartre...

[quisquose]

I would love to add to the debate here, but would rather know why TV star Dec missed England goal. Could somebody let me know?

[Elessarina]

The top "most read" news story on the BBC website right now is "TV star Dec misses England goal"


I think here, in a nutshell, is the reason the Proletariat will never revolt

And now the most read article is "12 die on Spanish Train Track" - what comment do you have about that?

Don't judge people too harshly just because they want a diversion from everyday life..

[klr]

I would love to add to the debate here, but would rather know why TV star Dec missed England goal. Could somebody let me know?

Wasn't there a power outage in some parts of England?

[JimC]

As long as people can do important things like solving quadratic equations, then I don't care if they are diverted from the bleak reality of life by a sporting event...

But I fear me that fewer and fewer people would even know a quadratic equation is if it bit them in the bum, so I agree with the OP, we're doomed...

[Elessarina]

The OP reminds of when we had a discussion a while back about books and reading and some comments that were made criticising people for reading Twilight books or Mills & Boon etc etc.

Not everyone can or wants to read Tolstoy. It is unfair to judge other people's intellectual capability

[klr]

The OP reminds of when we had a discussion a while back about books and reading and some comments that were made criticising people for reading Twilight books or Mills & Boon etc etc.

Not everyone can or wants to read Tolstoy. It is unfair to judge other people's intellectual capability

I've read Tolstoy, and it's not intellectual capacity (or lack of same) that wants me to give him a wide berth.

Seriously though, many people in my experience have more than enough brains, but just don't seem to want to improve themselves intellectually.