The Last Place

angela morgenstern writes "Buddhist Bhutan was the last place on earth to legalize television. Trading traditional practices for daytime soaps and WWF, many fear that western influence will trample the culture." A whole set of articles about the effect of American television on one of the most remote places on earth - it's official, there is no escape from American "culture".

Comments

A sudden revelation

[forkboy]

As I was reading through these posts, wondering why American culture has spread so virally throughout the rest of the modern world, it struck me as to WHY foreign governments don't seem to be saying a while lot about it: Control.

Think about it....has the American populace ever been so apathetic and easily manipulated as we have in the last 25 years? Our political and corporate leasership gets progressively worse and worse and yet the same people keep getting re-elected into office and appointed to positions of trust. This is a fucking wet dream not only for corrupt despots of all kinds in the rest of the world, but other so-called democracies and republics that don't want all the hassle that comes with actually appeasing people through honesty and care for citizens' well being.

"Fuck it", they say, "let em watch TV so we can manipulate their views with mass media and satiate their desires by making them think they have to have all the useless crap that's advertised...they'll feel their needs are met when they make a few purchases."

It's made most of us lazy, greedy, and apathetic...hardly anyone votes anymore and most of the ones that do cannot be bothered to think about who they're voting for, they just vote for whatever party they decided they liked in high school civics class. No one takes an interest in their community anymore. How many of you can say you know the names of all your neighbors? How many of you care? By this loss of sense of community and the artificial contentment that arises from being a "consumer", we don't take nearly as much of an active part in what's going on around us, community or government. Local or National.

Don't let it fool you...American culture is about being controlled while at the same time feeling like you're the one in charge. You ARE in charge...of what channels you watch and what merchandise you buy. I have genuine respect for those who are willful enough to avoid watching television, or better yet, do not own one. When the revolution comes, you'll be the ones who aren't watching it on CNN.

Happiness can't be found in catch phrases, soft drinks, feel-good tv shows, or pop music. I feel sorry for the people of Bhutan. It sounds like it used to be a nice place.