Time flows on...
It's been almost a month since my first blog. Many things have got me steamed since then. Let's go through some of them shall we? Forgive the ranting nature of my blog this time 'round. Anyone who doesn't like rants should move on to another one...I won't mind. Really.
Lowest Common Denominator: I hate that democracy means that to get elected, a politician has to appeal to the lowest common denominator as that's the only way to get enough votes. There's line I like in the West Wing that goes something like "Our job isn't to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it's to raise it". I hate that more and more television shows aren't made to be good quality, they are made to be popular. I object to the tabloid press calling themselves Newspapers when they are little more than huge gossip columns. I hate the idea that 'in the public interest' is used by the media to 'expose' who is sleeping with who and in what position. 'Interesting to the public' is not the same as 'in the public interest'. I hate that news outlets seem less interested in reporting the news as in creating it. There are two days I remember as watersheds in my view of the media. The first was I used to read a tabloid newspaper that my parents got. On the front page, the banner headline was that the Prime Minister's future hung in the balance. On reading the full article, it went on to describe how Tony Blair had gone in for a routine operation, and as I recall, didn't even have to stay in overnight. I haven't read a tabloid newspaper since that day. I don't appreciate that sort of journalism. If you can call it journalism. The second day was while I was watching the lunchtime news on a commercial channel. It was a piece on local council spending and the presenter said something about the outrageous use of taxpayers money. Now some of you may thing this a bit petty, but in my opinion, it isn't up to a news presenter to tell me that something is outrageous. That's up to me. I expect them to tell me what happened, and not add emotive words to try and colour my interpretation. I seem to be in a minority though, as it's always the issues with some sort of gossip scandal in them that sell the best. Like I care if Mr X slept with his PA. I guess generally what this little section about is the lowering of quality to appeal to the masses in all walks of life. And how much I hate it!
Smoking: The UK government is proposing a smoking ban in 'enclosed public spaces'. About time really, but it's getting the response that it's overly complicated and therefore difficult to enforce. It would have been simple for smokers to have avoided it though. All they had to do was not flick their cigarette butts out of car windows, or stomped them into the floor as if they weren't really litter. It's amazing how lazy people can be, not wanting to use the ash tray specifically designed in their car. Then they'd have to clean it out I suppose, and we can't have them suffer any negative consequences of their habit. If they just through it out the window, then it's paid for by the tax payer. By the way, with all the processed food out there, processed in terms of taste, appearance and smell, how is it that cigarette companies can't come up with a fag that doesn't stink? Talking for myself, the health implications of smoking aren't what makes it a pain in the backside to be around. It's that it smells appalling. It stinks. And I mean bad. It seems to me that this should be something that could be fairly easy to overcome in this technological society of ours. And why not a total ban in public places? The amount of revenue the government gets off a pack of cigarettes. They don't really want people to stop smoking until they can get the money from somewhere else. I have no problem with people smoking. The problem I have is their apparent belief that their right to smoke is more important than the right of those around them not to. And that it stinks.
Driving: You know what drivers remind me of? Animals who growl when you get too close. I'm one of these strange people that believes driving is a privilege, not a right. I live on a fairly busy crossroads (where the A3 and the A287 meet for locals...). This junction is managed by traffic lights. Now here's a concept that can't be that difficult to understand. If there's a red light by itself that means stop. If there's a green light by itself that means go. If there's a red and amber light at the same time, it means get ready to go, but don't go until it's green. This is traffic lights at their simplest, and yet the amount of people who seem to routinely run red lights (either just after they have turned red or just before they turn green) is on the increase. Local councils now have to increase the time between one light turning red and the next turning green to take account of the idiots that can't wait for the next cycle. They can't wait the couple of minutes it will take to turn green again. And the number is far too high for it to be people in emergency situations. It's just people being stupid. Another thing about drivers is how they ignore road markings. Again at the lights I can see from my window, there are white lines painted across the road, the idea being that drivers stop behind them. Not by any means rocket science. And yet most people just have to have half their car over the line. I don't know why. Is it so they can feel happy at being 2 metres closer to their destination? Someone tell me why. Please. And let's not get started on people who stop on top of 'keep clear' areas, or can't indicate properly on roundabouts or when they are changing lanes...And the amount of cretins who still talk on their mobile phones while driving. For God's sake, please explain to me how that phonecall is more important than someone's life. For the record, I don't answer my phone while I'm driving.
Driving, I think, gives us a glimpse of where our society is heading. And I find that really depressing. Millions of individuals asserting their 'rights' while ignoring everyone else's. A good illustration of society showing it's true face - losing itself over something trivial - getting from A to B. Whatever happened to the idea of a 'greater good'? It seems to have pilloried by the suggestion that the greater good must be bad as it doesn't allow everyone to exercise their rights as and when they please. But isn't a truly civilised society one it which individuals recognise that sometimes exercising their rights over the rights of others isn't the right thing to do? People today seem to have the idea that their actions either don't have consequences for other people, or just think that any consequences are unimportant as long as they get what they want. As long as whatever happens is convenient for them, to hell with everyone else.
For example, the abundance of personal injury claims, and the general increase in litigation. Sometimes I get so tired of hearing those words. "Have you had an accident in the last six months that wasn't your fault?" If I tripped over an unlevel pavement slab, I like to think I would let the local council know it was there, rather than see if I could sue them for a few thousand pounds. I have no problem with people and/or institutions being held accountable, but I do have a problem with the individual having to find someone else to blame for their misfortune, and worse, feeling that they should be financially compensated for falling over. I like the comedy sketch "Have you fallen over in a public place? Feel you're entitled to compensation? Why don't you call our experts who will advise you on how to look where you're damn-well going". I've paraphrased...
I guess I'm just a little down on the apparent selfishness of the human race at the moment. The prevailing wisdom that the individual is far more important than the group, rather than having some sort of balance between the two. Or maybe that is how the world works, and I just don't agree with how things are balanced.
Some days I have high hopes for the future. Some days I don't. I'm old enough to remember the relief at the end of the Cold War, and how everything was supposed to get so much better. I guess the old enemy has just been replaced by another, rather than being that last great enemy.
Time to put down the rant and back away from the keyboard. I'm sure there's some washing up that needs my attention...!
Lowest Common Denominator: I hate that democracy means that to get elected, a politician has to appeal to the lowest common denominator as that's the only way to get enough votes. There's line I like in the West Wing that goes something like "Our job isn't to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it's to raise it". I hate that more and more television shows aren't made to be good quality, they are made to be popular. I object to the tabloid press calling themselves Newspapers when they are little more than huge gossip columns. I hate the idea that 'in the public interest' is used by the media to 'expose' who is sleeping with who and in what position. 'Interesting to the public' is not the same as 'in the public interest'. I hate that news outlets seem less interested in reporting the news as in creating it. There are two days I remember as watersheds in my view of the media. The first was I used to read a tabloid newspaper that my parents got. On the front page, the banner headline was that the Prime Minister's future hung in the balance. On reading the full article, it went on to describe how Tony Blair had gone in for a routine operation, and as I recall, didn't even have to stay in overnight. I haven't read a tabloid newspaper since that day. I don't appreciate that sort of journalism. If you can call it journalism. The second day was while I was watching the lunchtime news on a commercial channel. It was a piece on local council spending and the presenter said something about the outrageous use of taxpayers money. Now some of you may thing this a bit petty, but in my opinion, it isn't up to a news presenter to tell me that something is outrageous. That's up to me. I expect them to tell me what happened, and not add emotive words to try and colour my interpretation. I seem to be in a minority though, as it's always the issues with some sort of gossip scandal in them that sell the best. Like I care if Mr X slept with his PA. I guess generally what this little section about is the lowering of quality to appeal to the masses in all walks of life. And how much I hate it!
Smoking: The UK government is proposing a smoking ban in 'enclosed public spaces'. About time really, but it's getting the response that it's overly complicated and therefore difficult to enforce. It would have been simple for smokers to have avoided it though. All they had to do was not flick their cigarette butts out of car windows, or stomped them into the floor as if they weren't really litter. It's amazing how lazy people can be, not wanting to use the ash tray specifically designed in their car. Then they'd have to clean it out I suppose, and we can't have them suffer any negative consequences of their habit. If they just through it out the window, then it's paid for by the tax payer. By the way, with all the processed food out there, processed in terms of taste, appearance and smell, how is it that cigarette companies can't come up with a fag that doesn't stink? Talking for myself, the health implications of smoking aren't what makes it a pain in the backside to be around. It's that it smells appalling. It stinks. And I mean bad. It seems to me that this should be something that could be fairly easy to overcome in this technological society of ours. And why not a total ban in public places? The amount of revenue the government gets off a pack of cigarettes. They don't really want people to stop smoking until they can get the money from somewhere else. I have no problem with people smoking. The problem I have is their apparent belief that their right to smoke is more important than the right of those around them not to. And that it stinks.
Driving: You know what drivers remind me of? Animals who growl when you get too close. I'm one of these strange people that believes driving is a privilege, not a right. I live on a fairly busy crossroads (where the A3 and the A287 meet for locals...). This junction is managed by traffic lights. Now here's a concept that can't be that difficult to understand. If there's a red light by itself that means stop. If there's a green light by itself that means go. If there's a red and amber light at the same time, it means get ready to go, but don't go until it's green. This is traffic lights at their simplest, and yet the amount of people who seem to routinely run red lights (either just after they have turned red or just before they turn green) is on the increase. Local councils now have to increase the time between one light turning red and the next turning green to take account of the idiots that can't wait for the next cycle. They can't wait the couple of minutes it will take to turn green again. And the number is far too high for it to be people in emergency situations. It's just people being stupid. Another thing about drivers is how they ignore road markings. Again at the lights I can see from my window, there are white lines painted across the road, the idea being that drivers stop behind them. Not by any means rocket science. And yet most people just have to have half their car over the line. I don't know why. Is it so they can feel happy at being 2 metres closer to their destination? Someone tell me why. Please. And let's not get started on people who stop on top of 'keep clear' areas, or can't indicate properly on roundabouts or when they are changing lanes...And the amount of cretins who still talk on their mobile phones while driving. For God's sake, please explain to me how that phonecall is more important than someone's life. For the record, I don't answer my phone while I'm driving.
Driving, I think, gives us a glimpse of where our society is heading. And I find that really depressing. Millions of individuals asserting their 'rights' while ignoring everyone else's. A good illustration of society showing it's true face - losing itself over something trivial - getting from A to B. Whatever happened to the idea of a 'greater good'? It seems to have pilloried by the suggestion that the greater good must be bad as it doesn't allow everyone to exercise their rights as and when they please. But isn't a truly civilised society one it which individuals recognise that sometimes exercising their rights over the rights of others isn't the right thing to do? People today seem to have the idea that their actions either don't have consequences for other people, or just think that any consequences are unimportant as long as they get what they want. As long as whatever happens is convenient for them, to hell with everyone else.
For example, the abundance of personal injury claims, and the general increase in litigation. Sometimes I get so tired of hearing those words. "Have you had an accident in the last six months that wasn't your fault?" If I tripped over an unlevel pavement slab, I like to think I would let the local council know it was there, rather than see if I could sue them for a few thousand pounds. I have no problem with people and/or institutions being held accountable, but I do have a problem with the individual having to find someone else to blame for their misfortune, and worse, feeling that they should be financially compensated for falling over. I like the comedy sketch "Have you fallen over in a public place? Feel you're entitled to compensation? Why don't you call our experts who will advise you on how to look where you're damn-well going". I've paraphrased...
I guess I'm just a little down on the apparent selfishness of the human race at the moment. The prevailing wisdom that the individual is far more important than the group, rather than having some sort of balance between the two. Or maybe that is how the world works, and I just don't agree with how things are balanced.
Some days I have high hopes for the future. Some days I don't. I'm old enough to remember the relief at the end of the Cold War, and how everything was supposed to get so much better. I guess the old enemy has just been replaced by another, rather than being that last great enemy.
Time to put down the rant and back away from the keyboard. I'm sure there's some washing up that needs my attention...!
posted by Rob Langley at 6:42 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home