There are a number of people who will tell you they never watch tee vee, then go on to qualify what they mean by “never.” I’m one of those people. I never watch tee vee, but the World Series is on this week. Last week it was the league championships. Because I live on the state line and because this is an election year, I see the political ads from New York State.
No wonder only 30 percent of the eligible voters are showing up. No wonder young people – 18 to 25 – aren’t even bothering to register to vote. These ads are exactly what democracy should not be about – nothing but mud-slinging distortions. If I had to award a prize for the worst commercials, it would go to New York State’s Republican Senator Al D’Amato and his leering henchman, Ed Koch. I suppose the fact that Ed Koch is – or was – a Democrat is intended to lend an air of credibility to the mudslinging. This illustrates how little politicians and their handlers understand about credibility. If you get Little Orphan Annie to go on tee vee and spew filth, it’s still filth.
The sad fact is, Ed Koch, Al D’Amato and every other politician knows negative campaigning works, based on past experience. Turning the airwaves into a sewer during the months of September and October will drive most citizens of good sense and good taste away from the polls entirely and those that do show up are not there to vote for the sleazebag, but against the sleazebag’s opponent, because they have been whipped into a frenzy of hatred by relentless, moronic advertising.
The sad part is that it works. It shouldn’t work, we don’t want it to work, but it works. It’s the march into the basement, the lowest common denominator and it is often, if not always, the way things get done. This is bad enough for politics and governance, which no one likes or has any faith in, but low-denominator activity is beginning to dominate every corner of our culture.
You start with Moliere and Marlowe, run them through the mill of lowest common denominator and out the other side come Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, blowing things up and disrobing.
You start with the incisive and elegant prose of Mark Twain and, after subjecting it to the physical laws of lowest common denominator, you wind up with a four-pound book by Tom Clancy, a man who has difficulty reconciling his nouns to his verbs.
Apply the same principles to land use and you’ll get sprawl, apply them to merchandising and get Wal-Mart, apply them to food and get McDonald’s.
Even WebActive is not safe from such ravages. You’re only listening to me because RealNetworks thinks my ranting has some cachet among the hoi polloi, the unwashed masses.
And the hell of it is, there is no way to outlaw the lowest common denominator without also outlawing freedom of expression. I think we’ve seen clearly enough in this century that state-sponsored culture – or politics – outdoes the worst excesses of the people left to their own devices.
If this situation is ever to improve, the change required will have to be on the part of individuals. It will have to be a qualitative change, a change of heart.
It will require us all to behave better than we have been recently, to seek our own better natures.
A Change of Heart
There are a number of people who will tell you they never watch tee vee, then go on to qualify what they mean by “never.” I’m one of those people. I never watch tee vee, but the World Series is on this week. Last week it was the league championships. Because I live on the state line and because this is an election year, I see the political ads from New York State.
No wonder only 30 percent of the eligible voters are showing up. No wonder young people – 18 to 25 – aren’t even bothering to register to vote. These ads are exactly what democracy should not be about – nothing but mud-slinging distortions. If I had to award a prize for the worst commercials, it would go to New York State’s Republican Senator Al D’Amato and his leering henchman, Ed Koch. I suppose the fact that Ed Koch is – or was – a Democrat is intended to lend an air of credibility to the mudslinging. This illustrates how little politicians and their handlers understand about credibility. If you get Little Orphan Annie to go on tee vee and spew filth, it’s still filth.
The sad fact is, Ed Koch, Al D’Amato and every other politician knows negative campaigning works, based on past experience. Turning the airwaves into a sewer during the months of September and October will drive most citizens of good sense and good taste away from the polls entirely and those that do show up are not there to vote for the sleazebag, but against the sleazebag’s opponent, because they have been whipped into a frenzy of hatred by relentless, moronic advertising.
The sad part is that it works. It shouldn’t work, we don’t want it to work, but it works. It’s the march into the basement, the lowest common denominator and it is often, if not always, the way things get done. This is bad enough for politics and governance, which no one likes or has any faith in, but low-denominator activity is beginning to dominate every corner of our culture.
You start with Moliere and Marlowe, run them through the mill of lowest common denominator and out the other side come Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, blowing things up and disrobing.
You start with the incisive and elegant prose of Mark Twain and, after subjecting it to the physical laws of lowest common denominator, you wind up with a four-pound book by Tom Clancy, a man who has difficulty reconciling his nouns to his verbs.
Apply the same principles to land use and you’ll get sprawl, apply them to merchandising and get Wal-Mart, apply them to food and get McDonald’s.
Even WebActive is not safe from such ravages. You’re only listening to me because RealNetworks thinks my ranting has some cachet among the hoi polloi, the unwashed masses.
And the hell of it is, there is no way to outlaw the lowest common denominator without also outlawing freedom of expression. I think we’ve seen clearly enough in this century that state-sponsored culture – or politics – outdoes the worst excesses of the people left to their own devices.
If this situation is ever to improve, the change required will have to be on the part of individuals. It will have to be a qualitative change, a change of heart.
It will require us all to behave better than we have been recently, to seek our own better natures.