Political Communication blog

hey there! no your are very much NOT the only one that finds this disturbing. I must admit that i have a tendency to do this also. i think that our society has its priorities messed up but in a way it cant be helped. It is human nature to want what makes you happy and to easily remember what interests you. It kinda sucks though because alot of what people find interesting and important(ex: celebrities)is really meaningless bullshit, but people put so much effort into knowing as much as they possibly can about movie stars,makeup,designer ANYTHING, pro athletes, rockstars....
entertainment pretty much. People just make it more of a PRIORITY than entertainment.
 

This seems like a pointless thing to dwell on. Sure, it's distressing that many Americans would rather watch reruns of Grey's Anatomy than the State of the Union Address, but what exactly is to be done? As Americans, we have the right to choose what we're interested in. Hell, everyone on the planet has that right, since it's mental. If you look at the box office receipts, you'll see what Americans want: idiocy. "Epic Movie" was the number one film this weekend.

The sad fact is, most people just want to stare at moving pictures with pretty colors. They don't want to read about the degrees that candidates have received. They don't want to read at all. They probably shut their eyes during the credits of the senseless TV shows they take in every week. Since the backgrounds and campaigns of candidates are not really very interesting, people avoid them for The West Wing. If Martin Sheen ran for president, he would win.

There's no way to enforce interest in political campaigns, and therefore no real reason to worry about the people who have no interest in their futures. It's called survival of the fittest, and someone doesn't know what they're voting for, they're obviously not the fittest. All we can do is pray they don't take everyone else down with them.
 

To say that it's pointless to dwell on the shortcomings of the society is just adding to the problem. Without the knowledge of our shortcomings we can never evolve. I, for one, am not content with the fact that it seems "ok" with everyone to turn on the tv and turn off the world. We need to read, we need to educate ourselves, and we need to encourage others to do so. Keeping the population dumb is a way of population control, and you can keep that for someone else.
 

I agree with you, however, I do not thing we are totally to blame for this. The media is partly to blame. When you open a magazine, newspaper, or turn on the TV you're more likely to hear/read about a sports star or movie star than Nelson Mandela or The Dali Lama. If we were more exposed to those people than we would probably know more about them.
 

Though I agree that we are worship idols in the U.S., I believe there several idols that we worship that are worse than sports. As a sport lover I admit to be guilty of caring more about sports than politics. I don’t think sports are as evil as some people make them out to be. The people who dislike sports also have something outside of politics that they enjoy. Though that joy might not be sports I’m sure music, shopping, and movies are an idol to many. I realize athletes make a lot of money but musicians and actors are not too far behind. I am on Music Makers here at Mississippi State and I personally was responsible for giving the Frey’s agent a $50,000 check for one concert that lasted 2 hours. I would be willing to bet there are more athletes with college degrees than musicians and actors.
 

I must disagree with Amanda when she said it is partly the media's fault. The media is not force feeding you any of this crap. You have the free will to turn off your TV. If not, then your will is very weak. And $50,000 dollars for a lame band? Nice. Granted, most music today is terrible.