June 3, 2010

Just another day on your telly

Yesterday was another fine day for the British TV: they had a tragic story to tell us all about, namely the sad story of the killing of 12 (twelve) people by one man, armed with a gun...story doesn't tell us which gun, but supposedly one that can reload quickly, by the speed at which those poor people have been shot.
This horrific story has all the ingredients of the 'good' media story: a quiet and stereotypical décor (a quiet countryside town), a huge number of deaths (plus, to add to the delight of journos and other story-tellers, a good deal of wounded), a loner gone mad after a dispute with family or friends (he was divorced, we've been told), and, most importantly, a central figure who was a simple man like you and me (a taxi driver).
So all the elements are here to keep us hypnotised behind our TV screens, watching the awful description of the attacks: how it started, where he went, the interview of a young girl who came close to her death, the images of bodies (covered) lying on the roads...The fact this does the headlines is very shocking, just because there are so many casualties, why would it be considered the main information of the night? Also, the constant repetition of the same images and facts bring the viewer to a state of disgust (I should have counted the number of times they repeated the number of death tolls, but it was probably about 8 to 10 times in 10 minutes).
And the saddest of it all is that supposedly 'serious' information programs like Jon Snow's Channel 4 News, or BBC News turn into such low range sensationalists. I couldn't stand it, and had to change channel before I'd end up puking in my own lounge, appalled at the luxury of details we were given. I couldn't even wait until Jon Snow gave us a comment onto which seemed the only interesting point 'the question of gun laws in Britain'.

So changing channels I ended up onto Alan Sugar's Junior Apprentice...At first I was interested, mainly because these teenagers seemed a lot more genuine and fresh than the usual Apprentice's crowd. For once, they didn't look like actors who had carefully learned their script (tell me I'm sceptical, but I can't believe 'normal' people can behave so comfortably in front of a camera like the Apprentices do. And I just had a look at the ones they had selected for the next season, some guys looked like top-models...very strange). Anyway, it was entertaining, and not too disappointing, up until the point when I saw one of the guys using a hair-straightener, just before going to an important business meeting...Isn't that some kind of totally media-conscious joke? I don't know any well-behaving gentleman who would dare using a hair-straightener, in public anyway...If I ever saw my man doing this, I would surely tell him, straight away 'You're fired!' and though I know some fine 'gender-crossing' men, I don't think any of them would ever dare doing this in public, and in front of a camera...guys, what do you say about this?

Well actually, this is not the fact a man used a hair-straightener that shocked me, no it was the vast shallowness of this moment, this young, 17 years old man, who is so comfortable with such an important action (when myself, at er, the double, if not more, I can hardly do a blow-dry...). So what are you learning kids in school nowadays, to use hair-straighteners, hey?

Whatever, this was just another ridiculous day on your telly, a collage of gesticulations by the media-conscious ones, those who think that 'power', 'image', 'looks' and 'status' are so important...but they're certainly not (my ingredients of happiness).

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