Rush to Lowest Common Denominator

I've wanted to write on this topic for some time. Many times thoughts have popped to mind over the past several months. Over and over again they echo in my mind. Finally, I will allow some of them to make an appearance here today.

Watching television is a chore. Three reasons: first, commercials are boring, mostly uninspired, and aim for the lowest common denominator among us; second, programming is often dull, silly and sleep inducing; and third, news programs are not very explanatory of the current news items let alone how they emerged from underlying issues that preceded them.

TV ads seem to make buffoons out of most men. They are the stupid ones being taught why a product or service is best by a child or a condescending spouse. Silliness is a common theme as though this is designed as viewer entertainment. Mostly it is not. It is just silly.

There are ads that are inspired and creative. As a TV control freak, I often mute the sound during commercials; I still watch the ads so I know when the program is about to resume. If the ad is creative it will inform and amuse me without a sound track. In the future I will un-mute the sound so I can finally hear the whole ad. This sort of advertising skill is entertaining and influential. It just may help me remember the brand when I am next buying that type of product or service.

I remember Volkswagen ads from the 1950’s. They were stunningly simple and direct. Easy to remember. Almost always they made me laugh. And the next day people talked of the latest VW ads.

I wish more advertising were this effective and entertaining. Evidently it is not to be.  Too many people don’t pay attention to the ads and thus the common denominator pulls down the creativity quotient for most advertising copy.  Too bad; way, way too bad.

TV programs suffer a similar fate. Plot lines seem to follow a childish mentality. Poor taste and sloppy thinking appear often during the program. The lowest common denominator theme reappears! Think reality shows. Always drama, then a solution. Often vicious personalities colliding with one another. Some tears, fears and threat of violence. Then resolution. Week after week, season after season. Boring.

And news programming! Now there’s an oxymoron. News is supposed to be about what happened, when, where and to whom. Then an attempt is made at explaining the cause of the happening. If more than one possible cause is probable, then all should be covered dispassionately to explain why the issue is an issue in need of resolution.  No opinion from the reporters. No commentaries that are incomplete. Please! Just explanatory notes on what happened and why and how it may end up eventually.

This is the way most people take in news, understand it on an immediate time basis, and how they come to view it later on once more time and exposure to potential causes have been reported and explored.  News is a teaching moment if handled correctly. If not, it is a tool of propaganda. Think Fox News.

Three functions inescapable by the TV viewer: ads, entertainment programs and news reports. Very few of these offerings feed the intellect. Very few raise the tone of communications or logic. Most pander to the lowest common denominator among us.

I am not a snob. I enjoy thinking. I enjoy reasoning things out. I am compelled to make sense of things. Increasingly public media does not satisfy those interests.

This is a worrisome public issue for me. If media challenges the public I believe the quality of public thinking and discussion will be of a higher plane. We are not a dumb nation. We pour enormous time, talent and financial treasurer into education. We should use those ‘muscles’ not allow them to atrophy.

More on this topic at another time. For now it is out of the alleys of my mind and that’s a good thing, at least temporarily!

March 17, 2014