|
| quote: | Originally posted by smakmagik
True, caring detracts people from real lives, but unless that thing is staged, it IS real life isn't it? I agree with the points you make about television fucking things up when it comes to people and actual interaction, but when you are propped up in front of the telly, and something like this does come up, you must be affected in some way must you not? It doesn't mean I carry those feelings around wherever I go, and let them govern how I behave/think/feel, but just at that moment, I do care.
Unless as I said, you know for sure that its staged, at which point, I would just point and laugh. (or watch Oprah ) |
No, no you don't have to be affected. They want you to be affected so that you keep watching. They want you to invest a part of yourself in the program so that seeing through towards its conclusion and commercial break just beforehand becomes a personal and emotional goal. There is absolutely no reason to believe it's not staged. It's not all that dissimilar to a magic trick and, metaphorically speaking, is not an evil thing per se so long as you keep in mind that it is a manipulation of observable reality for entertainment, alone. But people become involved - their strings pulled - their sense of self all invested away as they become nothing more than mere learners before a deceptive teacher. And what pay-off exists? Well, you can become a desensitized media socialite, sure to find kinship amongst similar sheep and husks of mental anemics to share your entertainment style prospects with. After all, being human is all about connecting with your fellow man in some way, is it not? Might as well make it a safe and perpetual sort of death - keeps us safe from all that pain of living our own lives.
Don't sell my sentiment short though! I realize there is a legacy of myth as long back as the human hand can scribble happenings down and I am no small fan of this dynamic. The perpetuation of fiction is something quite intrinsic to us and I would be quite wrong to deny its affect on people whether it is in the form of epic heroes succumbing to some God-inflicted fate or the death of a beloved character in a movie - this is a different sort of empathy. It is the illustrative type used by people who wish to teach something or, perhaps to some far more cruel yet humanistic effect, to incite a catharsis of sorts. Empathy induced for the sole purpose of withdrawing consumer habituation is a far more detached and mechanical animal. It has everything to do with the human experience thus far, and that says nothing positive about our resolve as creatures unwilling to sacrifice ourselves for inedible exchange.
___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Last edited by Halcyon+On+On on Feb-29-2008 at 09:37
|