Christopher Soalllife as drama, drama as life
February 26th 2009 09:04
I have lapsed once again but finally back I shall try and commit a concerted effort to posting something every day. I have certainly felt quite passionately to the point of spitting about a number of issues of late so I finally have a whole splurt of ramble to add.
At the minute The world seems quite red. Alight with the ocurrance and threat of the tragedy of fire. Being in a dangerous area for bushfires the whole issue has ben extremely proximate. I have felt intense sympathy for all the people effected, great powerless bewilderment and anger at careless cruel arsonists whose humanity I cannot begin to ceonceive of (If they actually have any I mean)
But the flame of the fire has not just been literal It has been to an awful extent figurative and this has made me see red for another reason as my irritation with the media circus that erupts over any tragedy has reason to a fever. I hate the way reality is sensationalised to the point of fictionalisation. I hate the media frenzy the way they feed off the drama, fan the flame of it. Invade peoples privacy and personal space always searching for the tear always fishing for the thankyou. I'm so tired of Bushfire commentary, My nerves are run ragged by the read outs of areas under threat I'm sick of the opinionated ringing up to discuss or pat themselves on the back for their actions. Those who do things in silence I admire, those who have to advertise their generosity tire me. I'm most sick of not being able to feel this sick of it all without risk of accusation of insensitivity.
It is mainly just that When something so awful like this happens in everyday life the horrificness does not really need exaggeration. The romantic language used in fiction to evoke emotion is unecessary for the emotion is already at the surface, it doesn't need to be aggravated and embellished.
And just because something awful happens to people doesn't immediately make their lives, their tragedy everybody elses property. Must the offer of help come with the price tag of their right to grieve, react, let it all settle in in private.
The media acts like they are so wonderful invading these peoples space. But there is a fee for the help they give although they are constantly insisting it is free, that is their almost theft of the rights to record and broadcast peoples natural and most private moments. It's their rare opportunity not to have to fabricate or falsify to have a tap into a pure source of humanity which due to human empathy hooks everyone else in. Why can't there be some law though to stop horror being turned into entertainment. Why can't the line have some way of being delineated between honest, sympathetic reporting of events versus competative thirsty exploitation of a real situation for ratings. The real in this case is often even tampered with in order to be presented on camera to the point where unreality creeps in and cheapens the whole scenario. Surely to orchestrate it so you can unite people on camera and squeeze every tear and thankyou from the moment from dazed zombified subjects who haven't really a clue whether they want to be filmed or not isn't responsible. Maybe years later they'll look back and wish they had had that moment to themself. Maybe they won't everyone is diffferent but I don't see that anyone is necessarily given fair choice when they are not really properly sane at the time of consent. The media takes advantage of their bewilderment to offer up their raw state to an audience. To watch for information is fair, to watch with empathy to be aware to act, but I do feel some media allows it all to be reported in a way that blurs reality into the type of drama people are supposedly entertained by every night. Why are we entertained by drama anyway?
Anyway rant almost over I guess what is really niggling is the ads for the news and how well so and so station or show has reported it, the journalism awards to come in the future when people will pat themselves on the back for how well they did this or that story when it should never have been a source for all that, it should never have happened and story's should only serve to make people aware so it is less likely to happen again not dampen the reality of it with boosting the drama of it to the level of the drama we usually watch as entertainment (For some crazy reason) and are desensitised to.
The more real something is and the more it effects people is often when it is the most ordinary, subtle, unremarkable a part of our everyday life. People need to be made to remember that the big show of emotion and fire and the outpourings of upset and sympathy are all going to die down and it is then when the threat is going to be at its greatest when the media need to be bringing it into the public consciousness again because the whole situation has really proved how too blase we have all been and risk becoming again when the weather seems colder and everything is not so obviously under threat.
| 57 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
