AurasMihai.ro Online is fun
Si altele
De ceva vreme (cred ca se face aproape un an) am inceput sa raresc tot mai mult sursele de informatie romanesti si sa le inlocuiesc, treptat, cu alternative din afara. Am inceput cu o runda de unfollow-uri pe twitter, niste dezabonari prin feedly, prostporturile cu astea 3, goal.com sau en.as.com, blogurile de la noi cu autorii de pe medium.com si tot mai mult quora.com, care a devenit resursa mea favorita de informatii.
Despre Quora si zecile de intrebari si raspunsuri la care m-am abonat poate ca o sa revin altadata, acum mi-a atras atentia una articol de pe medium, care abordeaza “Friends” din perspectiva unui fost profesor care vede serialul ca pe unul din motivele care incurajeaza bulling-ul sau atitudinile dezaprobatoare fata de tocilari/geeks, in contrast cu atentia pe care o au vedetele de carton, persoanele superficiale sau barfele televizate.
Articolul se numeste “How a TV Sitcom Triggered the Downfall of Western Civilization“, recunosc ca nu m-am gandit la “Friends” in modul asta, pana acum. Chiar si dupa articolul asta, inca mi se pare un serial amuzant, plin de stereotipuri americane, sarcasm si glumite usoare. Sau poate ca e mai mult decat asta … (drum rolls pe fundal)
Cateva citate conspirationiste, mai jos. Cum ar zice americanul: “food for though”.
The show ended in 2004. The same year that Facebook began, the year that George W. Bush was re-elected to a second term, the year that reality television became a dominant force in pop culture, with American Idol starting an eight-year reign of terror as the No. 1 show in the U.S., the same year that Paris Hilton started her own “lifestyle brand” and released an autobiography. And Joey Tribbiani got a spin-off TV show. The year 2004 was when we completely gave up and embraced stupidity as a value. Just ask Green Day; their album American Idiot was released in 2004, and it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. You can’t get more timely. The rejection of Ross marked the moment when much of America groaned, mid-sentence, at the voice of reason.
Eventually, the Friends audience — roughly 52.5 million people — turned on Ross. But the characters of the show were pitted against him from the beginning (consider episode 1, when Joey says of Ross: “This guy says hello, I wanna kill myself.”) In fact, any time Ross would say anything about his interests, his studies, his ideas, whenever he was mid-sentence, one of his “friends” was sure to groan and say how boring Ross was, how stupid it is to be smart, and that nobody cares. Cue the laughter of the live studio audience. This gag went on, pretty much every episode, for 10 seasons. Can you blame Ross for going crazy?
Maybe intellectuals have always been persecuted and shoved in lockers, but something in my gut tells me we’re at a low point — where social media interaction has replaced genuine debate and political discourse, where politicians are judged by whether we’d want to have a beer with them, where scientific consensus is rejected, where scientific research is underfunded, where journalism is drowning in celebrity gossip.
And finally: protect the nerds. A computer programmer from Seattle is doing more to alleviate world poverty, hunger, and disease through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation than any other person in America right now. Nerds create vaccines. Nerds engineer bridges and roadways. Nerds become teachers and librarians. We need those obnoxiously smart people, because they make the world a better place. We can’t have them cowering before a society that rolls their eyes at every word they say.
