Bob Edwards interviews Ronald Bishop, author of MORE: The Vanishing of Scale in an Over-the-Top Nation
In MORE: The Vanishing of Scale in an Over-the-Top Nation communications professor and former journalist Ronald Bishop examines the media's encouragement of exaggerated behavior and the obsession with triviality in contemporary culture.
In this first book-length investigation of the media's obsession with triviality, cultural critic Ronald Bishop playfully mixes personal narratives with an abundance of examples from television shows, news stories, editorials, advertisements, books, and movies, to demonstrate how media promotes the idea that the notion of scale must be abandoned to achieve success and happiness in modern society.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ronald Bishop is Professor of Communication at Drexel University. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Bishop is the author of When Play Was Play: Why Pick-Up Games Matter and Taking on the Pledge of Allegiance: The News Media and Michael Newdow's Constitutional Challenge. He lives in the greater Wilmington, Delaware area.
Topics Discussed in the book include:
1) Media -- Extreme, excessive and sensational behavior garners ratings
• Celebrity: Media provides the illusion that with hard work, a little luck, and your own tv show, wealth and fame can be yours
• Reality TV: From multiple births to extreme physical challenges to the typical day in a young person on the Jersey shore, over sized behavior has become the norm
• Social Media: - What was once private is now public as we put everything on YouTube and Tweet about every waking thought and routine occurrence
• 24 Hour News Cycle: Everyday occurrences from construction to court proceedings become larger than life events with grand names like "Carmageddon" and the Casey Anthony "Trial of the Century"
2) Politics - The Discourse is angry and ugly
• Parties: The Debt Ceiling debate boiled down to a fight between the Republicans and Democrats in the form of House Majority Leader John Boehner and President Obama
• Noisy Minorities: Members of the Tea Party spar with members of Congress during Town Hall meetings and demand their way or no way
• 9/11: Ten Years after 9/11, the takeaway is "whatever you do, don't let them build a mosque near Ground Zero"
3) Money/Wealth -- The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
• Home Ownership: The mortgage crisis occurred amid the proliferation of extreme home makeovers and the acquisition of McMansions enabled by banks and Wall Street firms that encouraged Americans to spend more money than they had
• Hollywood: Twenty plus years after the first "Wall Street" movie, Gordon Gekko is back to remind us that "greed is good"
• Taxes: As the gap between rich and poor widens, the overblown rhetoric surrounding the recent debt crisis reinforced yet again, the rich will not part with their wealth that easily
4) Medicine/Health/Diet -- Live life on your own terms
• New Diseases: Everything from acid reflux to stress is now a major disease complete with its own medication
• Food as Fetish: Food Network hosts teach us to revel in the preparation of food, which we're then supposed to devour ravenously. There is little discussion of eating sensibly
• Modern Weight Loss: When you need to lose weight, it's now an extreme sport involving boot camps and casting calls for The Biggest Loser
5) Education -- Where is the reward?
• The Right School: Frantically seeking the right kindergarten slot so their child can eventually go to Harvard, parents feel pressured and in turn pressure their kids to attend the right schools
• Rewarding Failure: Our kids get medals for coming in sixth place and A's in every class from teachers afraid to confront potentially angry parents
• Jobs: After attending college, and often landing in deep debt, you can no longer expect to have a job waiting for you after graduation
6) Sports: Play is no longer just for fun
• Fanatics: Fan behavior is out of control, as illustrated by the recent incident in which Los Angeles Dodgers fans beat, almost to death, a San Francisco Giants fan visiting Dodgers Stadium
• Child's Play: Play has become violent and confrontational as parents of Little Leaguers now attack coaches when they disagree with a coaching move
• Professional Dreams: Too many kids put all their eggs in one basket by thinking they can make a living by becoming a pro athlete despite the fact that the odds are significantly stacked against it
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