General News - Don Daglow on how failure is a tough sell for American audiences

I think it is because in the US, having to go on a talent show to be a success, instead of it happening the old fashioned way, means you have none and aren’t. Also, I’m sure the producers make sure a bunch of no-talent hacks get on that everyone will talk about, like the Asian guy on the singing show.

And also, I, and most of the people I work with, do not watch TV at all. We make fun of the idiots who do and talk about their nonsense reality shows which are dumbing down all cultures.

Also, people become successful in the only way that matters when they are extremely useful to others in a meaningful way.

I would be interested in seeing the viewership per capita of the most popular reality shows in NA and European countries.
 
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I think it is because in the US, having to go on a talent show to be a success, instead of it happening the old fashioned way, means you have none and aren’t.

That's not entirely true. Every season in the US there are a few genuine cases of people who for various reasons never got the chance and show up from nowhere and do numbers on a world-class scale. They are usually a bit older and they are often laughed at first, then they win the whole competition. The sad part is that the "I just want to be on television" crowd are so many in the US that they probably stop many from even getting into the auditions.

Kevin Skinner (Winner 2009)
Michael Grimm (Winner 2010)
Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. (Winner 2011)

Also, I’m sure the producers make sure a bunch of no-talent hacks get on that everyone will talk about, like the Asian guy on the singing show.

Yes.

And also, I, and most of the people I work with, do not watch TV at all.

Neither do I, but I try to keep myself updated on cultural phenomenons via the web since my academic field is society/culture-focused psychology. Behavior in large numbers intrigue me.

Also, people become successful in the only way that matters when they are extremely useful to others in a meaningful way.

That's real success as far as I concern.

I would be interested in seeing the viewership per capita of the most popular reality shows in NA and European countries.

Reality Shows include the ones I call "modern gladiator competitions" such as Big Brother, where they seek dysfunctional people and throw them together and force them to elect who to throw out every week to see who cracks first under the pressure. There's nothing in them except for exploiting and celebrating the worst of the worst society have to offer just to make money. I believe they work because they offer a virtual social life with "real" people to people who have no life. So you can sit and watch other people argue, sleep and brush their teeth.

But when it comes to talent shows all Swedish ones are now dead after polls showed that the vast majority of swedes wanted less talent shows or even the end of the phenomenon. But being a nation who have music as it's greatest export Swedish Idol was probably unique in having a such excess of superior musicians that the auditions alone could compete with Eurovision song contest.

Britain's Got Talent will probably not end anytime soon. It's one of the most famous shows from Britain and it's not only a talent show but a cultural celebration of that nation.
 
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Been watching the "Got Talent" series recently, which is a talent show franchise that been used in 40 countries now. I actually watched the whole season from Britain, America and Australia as well as the winners from many other nations (that do not speak English). What amazed me was how weak the American version was. You get audition after audition in which people with no talent at all participate and usually get angry when they are told they have no talent. It's like people are willing to do everything just to be on television and even with 40 slots for the semi finals there's barely any number you would pay to see. Then you have Australia in which almost every audition is amazing and it's like you just wish they skip the contest and throw a festival since they found 60 winners already.

It's as if in the American culture you do not only lack the concept of failure, you also lack the concept of self criticism, the capacity to judge oneself. It's like humility and self moderation are sins while "personal success" (being useless to everybody else) is the only important thing in life.

All that from a garbage show like got talent. If I go to an AA meeting in England then I can only assume everyone in England is either a drunk or recovering alcoholic, never mind the rest of the population. Also, American is not a race.

There are definitely problems in the American educational system but drawing such conclusions with a tv show as your test bed is utterly ridiculous.
 
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There's no doubt that the American education system is deathly afraid of using the 'f' work. I don't think it is quite as bad as the doomsayers would have us believe, but it is a massive shift from just a few decades ago. I once heard the most recent generation of college graduates described as 'the most praised generation' and I don't think it is too far off. Just off the top of my head, the 'pussification' as we call it of American youth has included:

1) Everyone gets the blue ribbon (first prize) in things like science fairs
2) Score not being kept in youth sports
3) Dodgeball being banned in most schools

I could go on, but everything seems aimed at making sure that no one ever experiences failure. Its disgusting. We produce graduates (not all by any means, but a lot) that have literally never had to deal with failure. What happens when they get in the work force and are confronted with it? They collapse.

The only redeeming thing I see is that there is a lot of backlash against this, so I am confident that my daughter's generation will be much better off. (and thoroughly dominate the pussies that came before them)
 
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How then would you explain the lack in irony?

Perhaps this is a case of misunderstanding due to wording ?

The word "race" as used in the English language is usuall replaced by "culture" here.

The american culture consists of several "races" (note that the use of the word "race" for humans is banned by society here in Germany), but they are not "a race".
 
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All that from a garbage show like got talent. If I go to an AA meeting in England then I can only assume everyone in England is either a drunk or recovering alcoholic, never mind the rest of the population. Also, American is not a race.

There are definitely problems in the American educational system but drawing such conclusions with a tv show as your test bed is utterly ridiculous.


Great observation — and in fact, things are even worse as the test bed here is actually one individual's selected impressions from a television show — not quite the methodology one would expect to result from a sound education — :S

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Not just pies - but dreamlike apple pies with marzipan filling and vanilla icecream on top!
 
Drummers? Metallica?

Copenhagen Drummers, winner of Denmark Talent 2010.
In the audition they are just group of (skilled) military drummers in uniform, then they just get crazier and crazier and become a show that is just awesome. They make something rather silly cool.

Audition
Trash the Beat
Semi Final
Final
 
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I don't think that a single video of a nervous teenager who doesn't enunciate well when asked to read something on tv is evidence of a horrible school system.
 
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