Adam Curtis - Oh Dearism
UKNewsMediaBlog1 HN recommenders · 2014–2020
293K views · commentary · evergreen · Uploaded 2009-04-13
A short Adam Curtis clip on what he calls oh dearism, the habit of news reporting that presents events as a stream of sad, inexplicable happenings. He argues this leaves viewers passive and unable to imagine action.
Shared as a compact critique of how news framing breeds passivity and despair.
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3 comments from Hacker News
1) Drought, expensive food, lack of freshwater (e.g. California, Nevada, Pakistan) NASA video on groundwater reserves [LINK] 2) Big Data takeover by government (citizen profiling) and private sector (financial and health discrimination) 3) Youth-based uprisings changing the political landscape (driven by unemployment) But I think all these issues will play a wake-up call. Societies will become less self-centered, with less nationalism, less exceptionalism, and with more involvement and cooperation. There is already a rise in positive social activism. Kids are watching less TV and young people don't read newspapers, I love that! Lies are quickly demystified on places like Twitter. The negative impact will matter mostly on how early people decide to get involved. [LINK] [LINK] ($0.30/gallon in US, not viable) [VIDEO] Adam Curtis on "Oh Dear"-ism
As well as the long multi-part documentaries, Adam Curtis wrote short five minute clips for the show NewsWipe, which are also worth watching, e.g. his talk about news reporting and "oh dearism" - [VIDEO]
I have a sense part of that is the "Oh Dearism" - we just watch sad news each day and it makes us think all that can be done is say "oh dear" - reflected in this short video by Adam Curtis - [VIDEO] (also featuring Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror)