| | It’s an open secret that television (along with the movies) has descended into mediocrity, mindlessness, and to the fourth grade level. People need to be entertained and the boob tube is the major source right in front of them. Yet for at least a decade, and getting worse by the year, it has been an open secret among Americans that “there are a hundred channels and there is nothing on.”
But this week the television viewership of the Olympics has been staggering. Every single day, every single hour of televised coverage for the first week and now well into the second, well over ten percent of the American people have been untiringly tuned in. 35 miliion, 37 million 38 million. The number of television sets tuned to NBC has been greater than the total of all the sets tuned into CBS, ABC, FOX and well over a hundred cable channels put together. The next strongest program on any channel on any day has had about 7 or 8 million viewers.
In the words of that noted deep thinker Kevin Costner, "if you build it, they will come."
If you show people excelling in something, straining against obstacles, even if it’s something obscure like Serbian water polo or rhythmic cycling, people will want to see it. Not reality shows about lowlifes or situation comedies about stupidity and incompetence. People are hungry, starved, for anything beautiful, dignified, enobling, where people train and work and struggle and put enormous effort on the line.
In much of life, the lessons are obvious. The way to succeed is in reach and not that complicated.
The keys to success in television (and movies) are really simple: Tell stories. Build suspense. Know the principles of literature and drama. Don’t talk down or insult the intelligence. Have likable and attractive or at least interesting characters. Don’t promote lowlifes or have morons as stars. Take the high road. But those in control find all sorts of excuses not to do what is needed.
It’s really hard to make yourself do what is simple and obvious.
The keys to success in spreading Objectivism are also clear-cut and obvious: Be a good to great writer or public speaker. Polish your skills. Develop the ability to persuade people and to get them to like you. Don’t use jargon. Learn to simplify. Develop the common touch. Don’t use ad hominem or personal denunciations or moral attacks on those who disagree. Build teamwork. Know the details of your subject before you pontificate. Anticipate objections. Focus on the ideas not the people. Take the high road. Focus on the positive and the optimistic and the ideal.
If you build it, they will come.
(Edited by Philip Coates on 8/21, 12:44pm)
|
|
