Tag Archives: Culture

May 29, 2011 · 5:00 pm

A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much

I found this article fascinating…

I’m one of those people quick to call the younger generation slackers.  They are entirely too coddled.  Hence, my loving reference to them among friends and on my blogs as SJI’s (Slack Jawed Idiots).

But I’m ready to admit that there are other factors that aren’t so obvious.  Technology has changed the world and removed walls and barriers.  It has made it easier to blur the lines between work life and home life.

This Generation also sees things differently due to, not only being coddled, but due to the vast amount of information this technology has made so easily available.

They also don’t have the expectations many of us from my generation had- past tense-of having a job for life as long as they worked hard.

They know that social contract is null and void.

They therefore, appropriately, focus more on their real life.

In short, it’s a different world than the one we expected to see…

They may be more realistic than my generation was…

I’ll have to think about this some more.  This article in today’s New York Times is a good place to start…

But it still doesn’t excuse their poor style, fashion and cultural choices…

And three in four Americans believe that today’s youth are less virtuous and industrious than their elders, a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found.

In a sign of humility or docility, young people agree. In that 2009 Pew survey, two-thirds of millennials said older adults were superior to the younger generation when it came to moral values and work ethic.

After all, if there’s a young person today who’s walked 10 miles barefoot through the snow to school, it was probably on an iPhone app.

So is this the Laziest Generation? There are signs that its members benefit from lower standards. Technology has certainly made life easier. But there may also be a generation gap; the way young adults work is simply different.

MORE:   A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much – NYTimes.com.

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May 3, 2011 · 10:07 pm

Television Ownership Drops in U.S.

I’m not surprised…

We barely watch TV and if we do, it’s usually to watch a DVD or stream a movie in from on-line….

Broadcast TV has become a wasteland of mindless trash and insipid commercials….

I don’t miss it….

I choose to watch a few quality shows on DVD, get my news on the internet and ignore the trash culture TV perpetuates….

From the New York Times:

For the first time in 20 years, the number of homes in the United States with television sets has dropped.

The Nielsen Company, which takes TV set ownership into account when it produces ratings, will tell television networks and advertisers on Tuesday that 96.7 percent of American households now own sets, down from 98.9 percent previously.

There are two reasons for the decline, according to Nielsen. One is poverty: some low-income households no longer own TV sets, most likely because they cannot afford new digital sets and antennas.

The other is technological wizardry: young people who have grown up with laptops in their hands instead of remote controls are opting not to buy TV sets when they graduate from college or enter the work force, at least not at first. Instead, they are subsisting on a diet of television shows and movies from the Internet.

That second reason is prompting Nielsen to think about a redefinition of the term “television household” to include Internet video viewers.

“We’ve been having conversations with clients,” said Pat McDonough, the senior vice president for insights and analysis at Nielsen. “That would be a big change for this industry, and we’d be doing it in consultation with clients if we do it.”

Nielsen’s household figures suggest that while the TV set is still firmly at the center of the average American’s media life, a small minority of Americans are finding ways to live without it. The “persistently rocky economy” is a factor, the company says in the report to be released Tuesday.

via Television Ownership Drops in U.S., Nielsen Reports – NYTimes.com.

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April 24, 2011 · 11:06 am

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything -NPR

Great article for we bibliophiles and other Culture Vultures from NPR:

The vast majority of the world’s books, music, films, television and art, you will never see. It’s just numbers.

Consider books alone. Let’s say you read two a week, and sometimes you take on a long one that takes you a whole week. That’s quite a brisk pace for the average person. That lets you finish, let’s say, 100 books a year. If we assume you start now, and you’re 15, and you are willing to continue at this pace until you’re 80. That’s 6,500 books, which really sounds like a lot.

Let’s do you another favor: Let’s further assume you limit yourself to books from the last, say, 250 years. Nothing before 1761. This cuts out giant, enormous swaths of literature, of course, but we’ll assume you’re willing to write off thousands of years of writing in an effort to be reasonably well-read.

Of course, by the time you’re 80, there will be 65 more years of new books, so by then, you’re dealing with 315 years of books, which allows you to read about 20 books from each year. You’ll have to break down your 20 books each year between fiction and nonfiction – you have to cover history, philosophy, essays, diaries, science, religion, science fiction, westerns, political theory … I hope you weren’t planning to go out very much.

via The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything : Monkey See : NPR.

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April 4, 2011 · 9:29 pm

Rutgers Parents Outraged by Snooki Speech – FoxNews.com

I knew there would be a backlash…

I still can’t believe they paid her $32K, which is 2$ more than they are paying Toni Morrison to give the graduation speech…

If I was paying Rutgers tuition, I would be furious…

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.–Angry parents of students attending Rutgers University blasted the decision to pay Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi $32,000 to give a campus talk last week — and said she should stay on the Jersey Shore, the New York Post reported Sunday.

“It’s disgusting,” said Nester Delgado, 43, whose daughter is a Rutgers freshman.

“Next year, is it going to be J-WOWW or The Situation?”

Parents fumed that Snooki was paid nearly $10,000 more than the $23,466 they have to fork over annually in tuition fees and housing to send their kids to the Garden State university.

“I don’t think she’s a good representation of a role model for my kids,” said Christine Getz, 47, a part-time preschool teacher who has a son and daughter at Rutgers.

The boardwalk bimbo drew 2,000 students to both of her Q&A sessions Thursday night at which she offered tales of her rise to “guidette” stardom, and offered such advice as “When you’re tan, you feel better about yourself,” and “Study hard, but party harder.”

The backlash comes after many students spoke out against the decision to host the reality TV star on campus.

“As an RU student, I’m really ashamed,” one student tweeted, according to FOXNews.com

“My tuition dollars wasted on Snooki,” another student wrote. “Rutgers probably could have paid her with a case of beer.”

Members of the Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA), which organized the event, defended the high speaking fee, saying the group had been looking for someone who could appeal to the student community.

“We’re trying to provide different kinds of experiences to students,” said the group’s president, Ana Castillo.

Snooki’s $32,000 fee caused a stir when it was revealed she got $2,000 more than Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison will get for this year’s commencement address.

via Rutgers Parents Outraged by Snooki Speech – FoxNews.com.

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April 1, 2011 · 6:48 pm

Snooki gets $32K to Speak at Rutgers; $2K More Than Toni Morrison

Sadly, this does not seem to be an April Fool’s Day Joke…

It does, however,  seem to be more evidence of a declining civilization…

From the Associated Press:

The pouf is mightier than the pen when it comes to speaking fees at New Jersey’s largest university.

The Rutgers University Programming Association paid Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi of the reality TV show “Jersey Shore” $32,000 Thursday to dish on her hairstyle, fist pumps, as well as the GTL — gym, tanning, laundry — lifestyle.

That’s $2,000 more than the $30,000 the university is paying Nobel-winning novelist Toni Morrison to deliver Rutgers’ commencement address in May.

Money for Polizzi’s appearance came from the mandatory student activity fee.

Freshman Adham Abdel-Raouf told The Star-Ledger of Newark he thought the price was a bargain given Snooki’s popularity. Another freshman, Dan Oliveto, said it was a waste of money.

Snooki’s advice to students: “Study hard, but party harder.”

via The Associated Press: Snooki gets $32K to talk ‘GTL’ on Rutgers campus.

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