"We live in a culture that in many ways grows more stupid and graceless by the moment. Sports, both reflects and influences that trend. So on playing fields everywhere, true style is in decline while mindless exhibitionism abounds."
Bob Costas
Sunday Night Football
November 27, 2011
This was a most profound statement that I didn’t expect to hear on a football broadcast, and that in and of itself, is the beauty of journalism. He was talking about touchdown celebrations, but the essence of the statement reigned true for society as a whole.
You see it everywhere from reality TV, to music, to political debates. Everyone is out here fighting and scrapping for an imaginary “top spot”. Ego is on full display. Things are said and done for shock value. Style heavily outweighs the substance. Controversy is manufactured for the sake of “staying relevant”. All to keep attention paid.
This influences a younger generation already struggling with finding themselves. If what they see and hear on TV, radio, and movies is accepted as true representatives of reality, how can we truly expect the future to be any different? So whether the playing field is sports, entertainment, or real life, if thoughtless acts, melodrama, and self-indulgence is the norm; I’m all for the atypical. Though at times it can all be entertaining, its effect on minds unable and/or unwilling to separate the real from the celebrated is where the ultimate problem lies.
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