Sunday, November 30, 2014

America's Obsession with the End of the World

During its season five opener, AMC's The Walking Dead attracted 17.3 million viewers, 2.5 million more than all of Sunday night football did. It is, and has been, the most popular show on cable television- yes, even more popular than Breaking Bad. It even has its very own talk show, The Talking Dead (somewhat like post-game for a football game), which immediately follows every episode. As a recent viewer, I know The Walking Dead, in addition to its popularity, is also one of the darkest, most violent shows ever.  Character are constantly dying gruesome and heart-breaking deaths, either at the bloody hands of another survivor, or a horde of the undead. Only four original characters of the total thirty something characters have lasted all five seasons without being "killed off". There appears to be little hope for the survivors as they slowly descend farther and farther from their own humanity, both physically and psychologically. So why is it America's favorite show?

According to an article in Time magazine, this newfound obsession may be a result of the media constantly feeding frightening news to people everyday, and causing people "to envision how we and our own would thrive if everything went to hell and we lost all societal supports". It suggests that Americans enjoy having a glimpse into the world that is constantly being placed in their mind by the media, with its alarming stories of anything from financial crisis to global warming, Ebola to the collapse of the U.S. power grid. Perhaps there is a sort of appeal, whether it be a comfort or an excitement, that accompanies experiencing a story of survival in a world ravaged by something far worse than viewer could ever imagine for the real world. The story of the people battling the worst of all hardship is what draws in the most, loyal fans.

If The Walking Dead is so popular truly because of the thrill of experiencing this post-apocalyptic scenario, why is it that Americans are interested in such tragedy, even considering it a form of entertainment? After all, as any viewer can tell you, the show focused on extremely unpleasant content. Is the show's popularity truly a temporary trend due to current world conflicts? Is it bound to go away as easily as trends change? Or, is this extreme type of television one to stay and evolve into the cultural norm?

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

"What's Dating, Grandpa?"

According to this past week's issue of Forbes magazine, Tinder is the world's hottest new app. This time, it is a dating app, and, as the name may suggest, it serves as a means through which singles can meet, and talk, flirt or even start a relationship. The basis of the app is browsing pictures of possible partners within the app users' areas and either swiping displayed profiles right for a, "yes, I'm interested" or left for a "no". When two people individually happen upon each other and both swipe right, a match is made and a chat is set up.

Tinder is the latest revolution in the transition to a socially digital world. It presents us with what may be the beginning of the digital dating explosion. According to Forbes, the app has been downloaded "40 million times" since it "relaunched in 2012". Also, "the 30 million people who have registered collectively check out 1.2 billion prospective partners daily- that's 14,000 per second". That is a lot of people looking to technology as their means of romance. But with the more than one third of all marriages starting on some form of dating website already, it is not surprising that this app so quickly rose in popularity. What is concerning is how this app may increase that figure in the future.
         
The revolutionary part of this app is that it is "digitizing how humans physically court"and making it "stunningly simple to do so via a smartphone". Tinder is not an alternative option to dating for those who have tried and failed to find their perfect match- as a dating site would be- but something openly available to everyone, everywhere, all of the time. And it is the first of its kind to offer this digitized dating experience and reach such popularity.

It has the potential to change the how singles interact with one another. Social environments may no longer be a game of men trying to impress or "pick-up" women. "Plays" and "wingmen" may be things of the past. This is possibly the begining of another technological change in human interaction. Why face the pressure of rejection or even put forth the effort to dress up when you can swipe through Tinder?




Sunday, November 16, 2014

Justice for Sale

In last week's edition of The New Yorker, Rachel Aviv told the story of Sam Kellner, a jew living in Brooklyn's Hasidic neighborhood, Borough Park. The article was entitled, "The Outcast", which became an fitting descriptor of Kellner soon after he decided to take legal action against Baruch Lebovits, the man who molested his son. After he was condemned to a thirty-two year jail sentence for eight counts of sexual abuse (for several victims), the Lebovits family, a wealthy and revered rabbinic dynasty, decided to do everything in their power to get Baruch out of prison, and Kellner in prison for extortion. As a result, in the words of a Hasidic business man (who chose to remain anonymous), "Kellner [became] the prime example of 'how devastated you will be if you go against the rabbis'" (Aviv). Kelllner also experienced first hand the advantages that a more powerful individual has in America's supposedly equal justice system. 

The power of the Lebovitz family allowed them to overwhelm Kellner in court with their ability to acquire evidence and manipulate witnesses. The family hired private investigators and worked with law enforcement to find evidence against Kellner; they bugged his car, wired conversations, interrogated witnesses, and negotiated with other victims of Baruch. They had every advantage. Eventually, "Lebovits was released, after thirteen months in prison" (of his 32 year sentence) and "[Kellner] was handcuffed and escorted to Kings County Supreme Court". Kellner never spent more than two days in jail, and has not yet been convicted of any alleged extortion crimes. However, Lebovits never received the punished he deserved either.

By allowing this outcome, the justice system failed to provide Kellner with equal protection before the law. The abruptness with which the wealthier, more influential man, Lebovits was able to turn the tables on Kellner caused him to say, "'The D.A. turned against me. And no one stood up for me. . . Basically, the D.A. destroyed me.'"














Friday, November 7, 2014

What was America's Favorite Pastime

Florida Marlins' Sun Life Field During Game
When I asked my classmates at lunch today if they knew who won the World Series, none of them could even name both of the teams playing in it. Nobody had even watched a single inning. I could not be one to judge however. I wasn't sure myself. Having played baseball for ten years myself, I used to have such passion for the game that I could recite my favorite teams' batting orders from memory. What happened? I couldn't help but wonder why none of us high school athletes knew anything current about the baseball league that was once unquestionably the center of the American sports culture. The answer that I, and almost everyone else, comes up with is that, baseball simply cannot compete with sports such as basketball and football, the current reigning king of the sports industry. Americans' affinity for violent, fast-paced action puts baseball in an entirely different ball game. Football crushes baseball in television's Nielsen rating and even the NBA nearly doubles that of baseball.

Baseball is naturally at a disadvantage to football. In his New York Times article, "Is the Game Over?",  Jonathan Mahler, argues that football is simply "louder, faster and more violent", and therefore more "in tune with our cultural moment". According to Daniel Okrent, the founder of fantasy baseball, "we are a shouting culture now, shouting connotes and engenders excitement. Baseball is quiet and slow.” So baseball no longer fits into our culture. Being a sport placing a lot of value in tradition, maybe baseball has failed to evolve with our  culture. Or maybe, as Mahler implies, this is only a moment in our culture, a trend where football, the action based sport, outperforms baseball. 

I wonder what events or changes are actually causing this cultural shift towards a predominantly football loving society. What has changed since baseball's so called golden era, the 50's and 60's, until now that has caused baseball to decline in popularity relatives to other sports?