The Rise of the Celebrity...Is the world going mad? Poll

[El Presidente]

I had to pick up my son this morning at 5:30am for basketball training and I was listening to BBC world news which was plugged into our 24 hrs News Radio network. I listen to it early morning to get my head around what went on overnight. 

The interview was about the mental impact of recent violence on youth. The speaker was surprisingly forthright on global views (I thought).  it was no wonder as the speaker ended up being a teen icon singer put up as an expert in the field by the journalist who should know better. 

The Rise of the Celebrity is one thing that really riles me no end. 

So our reporter went on to ask the tweenie "if  she thought the world was a more dangerous place than at any other time?"

How in hell would the just post pubescent Einstein know? .....SHE IS A SINGER!!!! She may have an opinion but it would be as relevant as that of the sound recorder holding the boom mike!

Does it irk anyone else? 

There is no escape from people staking the moral highground and  sharing unsought opinion on topics wide and sundry.

Male and female. Left and right. They are all as bad as each other. 

Rant of the day ended ...I feel better 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Phinz]

What, you were thinking that someone should know someone should know something about the topic before offering an opinion?  

[Auspaul]

Gene Simmons from KISS  gave the best answers used to say don't ask me I am a rock and roll star that's what I know

 

[Sean3]

Rant on Rob, then light up a Juan Lopez Seleccion  #2...All will be well.

[Fuzz]

I voted, " The World is really no more unstable than at any other point. "

Just look at the last 100 years and you will find every decade has had strife. The only difference is the world is a helluva lot more interconnected than in the past. The instant somebody is shot/stabbed in public, on the other side of the planet, you'll be reading about it on social media (especially if someone claims it's a terrorist act). Everybody wants to be Johnny-On-The-Spot to document and tweet about the latest bit of news. Having news on tap like that (and more worryingly, unsubstantiated news) just makes the world seem more unstable.

As for the rise of the celeb, please don't get me started. Many of them, especially the "Reality TV" celeb, are just oxygen thieves.

[luvdunhill]

I had a similar rant during my college days when I was sitting in front of a world renown Virgil scholar. I just wanted to hear him talk for the entire semester. However, the rest of the class wanted to offer their interpretation and "insight" continually.

So, yeah Rob - been there before.

[ayepatz]

Social media has encouraged people to think that their views are important, however ill-informed and asinine they may be.

Edit - and as if that's not bad enough...

[Winchester21]

Here in the US it is worse than anywhere that I can think of. Pop culture worship in general is totally out of hand. We make very poor choices of role models when it comes to singers and actors

[JR Kipling]

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but all opinions aren't equally valid.

Education in the U.S. was targeted beginning in the 1890s- early 1900s to produce a dumbed down, compliant population. Smart enough to work in the factories, but dumb enough to not cause any problems for management. The one room school houses were thrown out, as was the idea of the self taught man. The result of this is a kind of Idiocracy where the blatherings of some 'teenager' (a concept not found before the 20th Century) or 'entertainer' is actually taken seriously.

I once had a policy discussion with a 20-something college student, a nice young fellow. Quite typical of someone with a upper middle-class upbringing. He said that he had his views on the particular subject we were discussing. No evidence. No logical argument. Just his opinions. He'd been taught that everyone's opinion was equally valuable. Everyone got a trophy when he was a kid. 'Truth' either didn't exist or was determined by majority vote.

So is it any surprise that teenaged singers get asked their opinions on subjects they know nothing about ?


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[suggs]

4 hours ago, JR Kipling said:

I once had a policy discussion with a 20-something college student, a nice young fellow. Quite typical of someone with a upper middle-class upbringing. He said that he had his views on the particular subject we were discussing. No evidence. No logical argument. Just his opinions. He'd been taught that everyone's opinion was equally valuable. Everyone got a trophy when he was a kid. 'Truth' either didn't exist or was determined by majority vote.

I teach these people everyday. You should what passes for an "argument" in the stacks of papers I grade. Sadly, I think this is intergenerational because I've seen the issue arise in 20, 30, and 40+ year olds.

At the beginning of every semester, I'll usually go on a rant similar to the one in this article: http://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978

There's only so much we can do, though, when "opinion" and "argument" are apparently synonymous.

[CaptainQuintero]

 I think it's incredibly safe considering the last century. I remember the assemblies at school and government broadcasts telling me to get under my school desk when the air raid sirens sounded which meant Soviet missiles were minutes away from wiping us out.

 My parents went to the shops on the high street waking on planks covering the bomb craters from the second world war. My grand father got married at 19 in 1939 then went off to war on the other side of the world while knowing his wife and unborn child was getting bombed most nights. His uncles, brothers and cousins all signed up to a pals battalion in the first world war and were all wiped out in one morning.

 We just have instant gratification news that makes everything seem personal which is then followed by experts and news anchors making the most out of it for ratings.

 It's perception I think, we are perceiving things are out of control and getting worse. But that is down to how our society and culture has changed rather than actual danger levels imo

[Colt45]

8 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Just look at the last 100 years and you will find every decade has had strife.

I think we can look over the entire course of human history. It sometimes seems we refuse to learn from it.

[wabashcr]

I voted for more unstable, but I think that's probably not quite right.  Relations between different nations have certainly been worse, and tensions have surely run higher in previous times.  The problem today is that the technology exists to wipe out most of the planet in the blink of an eye.  Mutually assured destruction provided stability when it was mostly just the Americans and Soviets who had the ability to turn out the lights.  But as more and more entities acquire the technologies, eventually something will end up in the hands of someone who isn't bothered by the notion of mutually assured destruction.  

So I'm not sure that necessarily makes the world less stable, per se, but I definitely think it makes the world more dangerous.

[JR Kipling]

 

There's only so much we can do, though, when "opinion" and "argument" are apparently synonymous.

 

 

Thanks for the article link. Excellent. I will definitely share it with others.

 

To many, an 'argument' means repeating and shouting their opinion with escalating intensity.

 

 

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[Shaunster]

I think it depends a lot on your age. 

I am 27, I cant remember a time events around the world and in my home country seemed so unstable, yet I know in the past things where worse - however I did not experience those times, so for me the current days are seem more unstable. 

[Williamos]

This seems to me one of the significant problems of this era:  information without context.  In previous eras information was harder to access and easier to control.  Now, thanks to the net and social media it's easier to access, harder to control but the sheer volume of information makes contextualisation difficult.  It seems to me that there's also a lack of concentration and focus on issues in the great hurry to move onto the next thing.  In troubled times we need expert opinion and analysis, but in the wide canvassing of opinion that is social media, one opinion is largely as good as another.

 

 

[JR Kipling]

This seems to me one of the significant problems of this era:  information without context.  In previous eras information was harder to access and easier to control.  Now, thanks to the net and social media it's easier to access, harder to control but the sheer volume of information makes contextualisation difficult.  It seems to me that there's also a lack of concentration and focus on issues in the great hurry to move onto the next thing.  In troubled times we need expert opinion and analysis, but in the wide canvassing of opinion that is social media, one opinion is largely as good as another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think most people haven't been taught the necessary critical thinking skills. They parrot opinions from outside sources. They do not evaluate data. They don't even start with the most basic questions -

"Who, what, where, when ?" They haven't been taught to recognize logical fallacies or how to present a valid and persuasive logical argument.

This wasn't always the case. I don't know about other regions of the world, but in America a century ago, children entered one room school houses already knowing how to read. They learned phonics from their mothers at home. In school, they were taught critical thinking, history/civics, and arithmetic , among other subjects . If one reads tests given children from that era it's astounding. Most college students or graduates today wouldn't be able to pass those 19th century school children's tests.

 

 

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[dageshi]

Media is increasingly personality based, individuals command audiences that rival major news networks, so said news networks invite them on in an attempt to pull in some of their audience.

[rhcolbert]

History is far worse. Black Plague. TB rampant with no cure.  Rape and pillaging completely the norm in all wars everywhere.  I can go on and on.

minimal to no fear of continual violence makes culture / societies soft and stupid.  They start prioritizing crap like young celebrities.  No need for true heroes to be in the forefront of worship or command when there is no perimeter to guard.  Just a byproduct of being safe.  No good or bad, just trade offs with everything in life.