Amy Luft is a freelance journalist based in Montreal. She has worked for such organizations as The Associated Press, The Gazette, CTV and Reader’s Digest Canada. This time she has a question for Answers.
What would it take to make people under 30 more interested in serious news issues than in celebrity gossip?
The answer to this question is tied up with the fact that we live in a consumer-driven society rather than a morals-driven society.
Money and politics are the driving forces of society, rather than spiritual, moral values.
The media, especially television, are the expression of these driving forces, perpetuating the status quo of the consumer mentality.
Spirituality and morality have no multi-national companies financing their advertising campaigns.
We do our best to raise our children with moral values, but are we qualified? Do we have the knowledge, the time and the skill? Do we even know the basics about philosophy?
And don't expect our schools to take up the slack. Schools teach many things but they don't teach how to live a moral life.
The lack of morality in the financial system has brought us to the brink of disaster.
The one good thing about the credit crisis is it has placed the spotlight on moral risk and moral hazard.
Perhaps in hindsight it will be considered a turning point, the point when we began to see the need for a morals-driven society.
Experience teaches only the teachable.
It takes wisdom to understand wisdom.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Discover The Tale of Genji, the 11th Century classic of Japan (click image)
Kiyomizudera Temple has a large veranda looking out over Kyoto and beyond
2 comments:
The hidden function of the existence of celebrities would be to secure the consent of ordinary people to the unequal distribution of rewards, in a unfair absence of genuine equality of opportunity. Basically, you accept an unfair, arbitrary system if you think it’s nonetheless fair, almost random. Becoming famous is a question of luck – and you just wish you’ll be one of the lucky fews in the limo. In this scenario there should be a constant renewal of living celebrities – by contrast with a system with more perenial stars, or (dead, mythical) legendary figures : it shows that there is actually room for newcomers, and entertains every body’s dream to get his moment of fame.
This is how it has been working so far, but technology is making life change extremely fast.
http://singyourownlullaby.blogspot.com/2009/02/celebrity-gossip.html
That increase acceleration in technology mediated relationships makes people be more interested in communicating with their brains, valuating each other brains, than their bodies and stupidities people make that can so easily be spread.
IT became cliche, that is what it is making it change.
Post a Comment