If television is the mirror of a society, ours is not doing very well. Even we are seriously sorry for a constant race to the bottom.
If like me, you don’t give a damn about reality shows, stars and “celebrities”, their endless recipes, their childhood memories, their skeletons in the closet, and all the rest. tralala, you are then left on your hunger. Yes, we are hungry. Hunger for intellectuals, experts, people capable of thinking, of criticizing, of questioning.
We need to be fed with information, to be fed with in-depth interviews, debates, hot seats, reflections, analyzes, dissection of the whole world as of Quebec society, in short, of substantial television content for the mind.
Because if certain columnists and televiewers have softened brains these days, because of this pandemic – and undoubtedly not bad also by all these insignificant “beautiful programs” that they watch on TV -, others on the contrary believe that this general slowdown in human activities offers a great opportunity to think, a wonderful opportunity to reflect, among other things, on our future. But where are the intellectuals on Quebec television? Do we still have the right to think, to think out loud, to debate on TV? Or should we always have fun?
Because it is clearly the reign of entertainment on Quebec television. We must constantly entertain, laugh, make people laugh, have fun, stay light, relax and comfort, everywhere, constantly and at all costs. At the cost of deep thought, reasoning, reflection, yes.
It has been observed for a long time, comedians are everywhere. This phenomenon is not new, you will tell me. But can we ALSO have lively debates, in-depth interviews conducted by experienced women and men, capable of aplomb, incisive questions and bite?
Are you not tired of these countless stars on all the platters, served in all sauces?
Especially since if you are financially poor now, then you don’t have fifty-six thousand choices at your fingertips on your small screen, not even cable, or any subscription available to you, by the way. You necessarily rely on public TV. But already, the basic ingredients for thinking and reflecting are not accessible to everyone, starting with information.
How is it that Radio-Canada does not offer its 24-hour news network, RDI, for free? Isn’t it the mandate of the public broadcaster to adequately inform the population, the poor as well as the better-off? We are in the middle of a pandemic! We are currently going through an unprecedented health crisis, flanked by an economic crisis, not to mention the climate crisis that nobody really talks about anymore, but this basic information continuously is not available for the poor… sorry, I mean for them. “People in a situation of precariousness and economic poverty”. “Whatever happens”, yes, except for the poor.
In short, we are hungry. Hunger for big changes, on TV as in our society, of food too, both for the body and for the spirit.
This television poverty will eventually soften our brains, instead of raising us intellectually to the top.
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