Cable TV Ruins Bhutan

Christ-on-a-bike writes "This article in The Guardian discusses the negative impact of TV on the population of Bhutan. It has only been legal there for four years. Violence, crime and drug use are on the up. Was this inevitable, and what does it say about the influence of TV on Western cultures?" Our previous story about Bhutan talks about the radical impact of television, but without as much emphasis on the darker side.

Comments

Re:programming, not television

[robbyjo]

Screening is not a good solution just like censoring is a bad idea.

The better way is to explain or display negative examples in a positive way. This way we can educate people on what is good and what is bad.

I think the article counters the headline best.

[OwnerOfWhinyCat]

I have to agree with gad_zuki and Leki Dorji who says in the middle of the article:

Yes, we are seeing some different types of crime, but that just reflects the fact that our society is changing in many ways. A culture as rich and sophisticated as ours can survive trash on TV and people are quite capable of turning off the rubbish.

These people went from a kingdom without television to a democracy with it in a four year span.

Dayam.

In my culture (US (and yes we have one)) our resistance to change is so comical they make movies about it "Trouble. That starts with T which rhymes with P, that stands for Pool." Pool halls didn't ruin us, we pulled our heads out after the first Prohibition, Bingo halls didn't turn into dens of inequity when they finally got licensed for pull-tabs and other wimpy forms of gambling.

I laugh to think of what chaos would have ensued had we not had 200 years to sidle up to modern life, and I think these people will be doing extraordinarily well if they make it through the transition without having to return to some outdated, unworkable fundamentalist stupidity, that so often follows culture shock on this scale.