Thought Quotient

What kind of worldview is this??

George Carlin is a comedian who has a penchant for social commentary. Yet I think this is one of the most wacky views of the times we live in that I have ever seen….

CNN: What do you think of the state of the world today?

We’re all given a ticket to the American freak show the day we’re born and some people, they put their ticket away. Me, I watch the show.

There are too many things wrong with this to even try to break it down. I’m pretty sure that his grammar is correct for the most part though, I’ll give him that.

The Real American Idol

Nope, not a singer belting out another standard pop tune…but the almighty dollar. One thing that cannot be said is that tv doesn’t pander to the demographic that gives them the highest profit turn-around. Today that appears to be the youth who watch loads of tv and are attracted to the latest superficial trends like moths to a flame. The lure of the shiny, flashy, cool stuff is just too much.

To reinforce that, comes this story where we hear the head of Viacom (who is worth 8.9 billion dollars by the way) talk with glee about the prospects of more…

“Mexico has 50 percent of its population under 24, which, as I like to say, is music to our ears,” he said. “Because those are the demographics that our brands focus on.”

So it looks like he’s admitting that tv is not about the show content, but rather the commercials that are shown in between. That would explain why television shows are so bad these days. Also, what about this…

Redstone also said Tuesday that he has been in discussions with U.S. cable operators about the possibility of launching a gay and lesbian channel. He called the would-be network “a good channel for them, and a good channel for Viacom.”

I would venture to say that Viacom looks at this channel as a great opportunity to tap into another group of viewers/consumers…this time by disguising it as a socially progressive (aka “trend-setting) channel. A good channel to Viacom is not one that promotes any kind of redeeming values, but instead promotes their advertisers products.