Bad TV, the Olympics and Me-ism
06 October 2008
I remember hearing while the Olympics were on that the coverage described as the worst in years. I’m not out to agree or disagree with this but I do want to point out something that I believe underlies this opinion.
It’s the idea that I create the world of meaning, relationships and beliefs around me. Perhaps a good way I could describe it is with the following picture.
You can see the person’s reality is constructed around them illustrated by the parts of the newspaper circling. In other words the world I create around me exists to serve me.
This expectation carries through into our culture more broadly. If we want something now we can choose to have it instantly. Examples of this include express supermarkets, fast food joints, and instant communication. Furthermore these ways of thinking are perpetuated by the Internet and technology.
In short we expect to be able to watch what we want, where we want, how we want , when we want to. So we download movies and TV so we can watch it at a time to suit us. To return to my theory about the Olympics, I believe that this is part (though not all) of the reason so many people were dissatisfied with the coverage because it simply didn’t suit ‘me’.
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I see the point your making. But I have no complaints about the olympics. TV is very good, I like it. Except for Geraldine Doogue.
YouTube has given me a new appretiation for TV.
Yes, I missed TopGear Australia. But it's on YouTube.