America

This July and August, I have enjoyed my long vacation during which I have the luxury to indulge myself into the local television programs which definitely gives me more insights into the American society as well as its people.

Interestingly, most of the programs can be categorized into a few types: soaps, therapy shows, reality shows or makeover shows. Soaps, as reflected by the name, are programs that are just for a laugh or for fun. Amazingly and surprisingly, there are tons of therapy shows where people appear on national television to voice and confront their problems, whether personal, relationship or marital with a professional giving them proper advice and counseling. Before I watched these shows, I never realized that there were so many people out there with those many problems. Is it really? I am not too sure. You may find yourself enjoying lots of reality shows where you can truly experience the real life of celebrities, following them through every bit of their daily life. Are we, the audiences, really interested in peeping into the secrets of the celebrities or it’s simply a way for all the parties involved to make money?

Those therapy shows such as ‘The Elder Show’, ‘the Maury Show’ I see on TV really is brainwashing people in the way that if you watch it every single day, then you may start to think that you have tons of problems yourself. It seems that everyone has problems. Worst of all, they are encouraged to bring their problems to a larger scale by appearing on national TV. But why? I would have never imagined myself having the guts or courage (if there is such a need) being humiliated or even scolded at in front of millions and millions of people on the national TV. What is the point though? What really shocked me is that those appearing on TV do know what their problems are and do understand at one point that they themselves have to change to make something work. Why do they need an expert to re-confirm their decision? Or is it just a vicious cycle? Perhaps people love to appear on TV while shows desperately want to have people with problems to show up to arouse the interests of the audience, and most importantly enough advertising dollars to sustain the programs. Honestly, there are at least more than two programs of similar genre aired every day. Can’t you believe it? Though I have watched it few times a week, I simply feel like I have seen a lot because they all keep repeating the same pattern of problems. Imagine if you have been watching these programs all your life, what sort of impact are they going to make? Tremendous.

I start to wonder what kind of society the Americans are living in. Seems pathetic but at the same time, what sort of role have the US media take on?

Obviously there are ups and downs in life. But is it necessary to make it like those problems are larger than life? Problems are part of our life and you learn to deal with them and then move on.

Talking about reality shows, the most recent one is ‘Tommy Lee goes to college’. A famous rock star decided to go back to college and experience college life. He is being followed by camera most of the time, being filmed of whatever he does in college, attending lectures, being with the tutor, in the dorm, practicing in the band, etc. Life of celebrities do always arouse a lot of public interest. Yet it seems like this kind of reality show is common place, one after another, initially with Osbourne family, then Victoria Gotti, and now Tommy Lee. Sure more will follow. After all, why do people care about how they live? They just lead an ordinary life. The only difference is that they are famous while we are not. These programmes come to a point that they have nothing to offer to the audience, not even the slightest amount of entertainment element when everything, you know is being faked since it is a show, one that is going to call for lots of advertising dollars obviously.

In-between TV programmes, I am totally surprised how much you are bombarded by TONS, literally tons of commercials selling drugs, curing the very basic illness such as insomnia, allergy to diabetes, headache and many more. It seems like drug is the answer to all kind of sicknesses. Is it? I am afraid not. I simply believe that, the more drugs you take, the sicker you are, or you will be. Don’t forget the fact that drugs, those it has never been hugely advertised, do always have side effects. Imagine if you are taking a few types of drugs at the same time, you are not even aware of the effect or side effects they may cause your body. Simply give it a second thought. Who benefits from this whole thing? Pharmaceutical companies, of course. They are public-listed companies who have the responsibility to make sure the company is making huge amount of profits. The more drugs they sell, the more lucrative the sales will be. What I am more concerned is one’s own health. I grew up in an environment where we always resort to western medicine. Yet the past couple of years, I started to get myself into knowing more about Chinese medicine or at least a more natural way of healing. Every way of healing always has its pros and cons. At the end of the day, what is natural does the best to your body and health.

Just imagine how much drugs commercials average American are watching every day. How healthy are the Americans?

I also got caught by some makeover shows where some audience, mostly women, were invited to join in the makeover. Either they are too fat or they are too old-fashioned. This sort of makeover may involve more than changing style. Sometimes, it may involve surgical or non-surgical plastic surgery. It is more about the ‘external appearance’, the way you look, the way that is acceptable or expected from the society. Totally amazing! What does it tell us? A society which cares more about the ‘outside’ than the ‘inside’. People are really obsessed about it especially women who are totally obsessed with big boobs.

Watching television can be entertaining at times, especially for someone like me who grew up with television and I was definitely a big fan though I do not indulge in watching TV except with my favourite TV channel, Discovery Travel and Adventure which takes you around the world without actually hopping on the plane? Isn’t that amazing?

From my one-month intensive experience of watching local TV, I can tell you that you can be sure of gaining some insights about the society and its people from television. It does have some truths in it. Hong Kong is not yet far from the path America is going through right now. We have quite some programmes on makeover, on successful cases of losing weight. A lot of countries are modeling on America in a number of ways. It seems that we have modeled on the cons rather than the pros of its culture.

Media, as we all know, can create significant impact. What sort of social and moral role should it take on? How can media balance between performing their business and social responsibility?

Honestly, the American media, in the so-called democratic society with tons of freedom, you may be surprised by the almost-zero coverage of international news or news that may affect the government by the news programmes. There is therefore no surprise how little Americans know about the world. China used to be called ‘Middle Kingdom’. I believe America deserves this name better than China. Everything seems to be evolving amongst America or Americans except that most Americans probably do not know how the rest of the world hates America and definitely Americans, represented by Bush Administration.

This is in fact not to be a generalization of what I think of America or American. Frankly, I have met some Americans who really care about the world and things happening around them and do not mix up China with Japan. There was an American couple I met at the bookstore who impressed me with how much they knew about world history and how much they cared about things happening around them, and how much they loved knowing other cultures and other people. Most importantly, they are aware of how Americans are not being liked by the rest of the world. There are always a lot of exceptions. But what you see is probably the general phenomenon of the average American.

Written on 26 August 2005