Brilliant Craig Ferguson Rant About Why Society Sucks
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Stumble ThisCraig hits the nail on the damn head here, when no-one else on US TV would have the balls to talk about it. The sad part of it is the audience laughing and not realizing it's them he's talking about & validating everything he's saying - and apparently understanding nothing.
Personally, I only ever started watching his show from time to time because I loved the Drew Carrey Show, but shortly after deciding that Craig Ferguson wasn't my first choice in the late-night lineup, I realised that he occaisonally decides to say 'screw the cheap laughs' (or the execs let him have a moment or two here and there) and he says something not only genuine and with passion, but he's really thought about what he's said.
It's not often you get a host that'll speak their mind when the time's right, but he'll do it.
Naturally this has changed - advances in technology, in material well-being (for parts of the world), as well as in social and political theory and structures, have resulted in a more progressive Western society. Change is expected and welcomed; the experiences of your ancestors no longer apply to the reality your children will face, meaning that it's the young and the freshly trained who have the best chance of understanding what's actually going on. The oldest in our society are no longer best equipped to make sense of the world; the respect and deification they received has been passed down at least a decade or two.
I don't disagree that this has lead to a distasteful new variety of the already fairly shallow and unpleasant consumerist culture of the west, and I don't disagree that it has encouraged the rise of an 'imbecilic' (sub)culture, but I understand that if these are the negative side effects of actually, for the first time in history, having a society that's somewhat progressive, then that's acceptable to me. I'll work on reducing the negative impact of those side effects in my own daily life as far as I can, but I won't try to appeal to some conservative dream of venerating the old and the eternally stable.
Craig might as well be up there ranting about how being allowed to express yourself on the internet is dangerously undermining our respect for traditional experts and authorities - maybe so, but we can't exactly go back to only allowing a voice to one percent of the people.
please take the time to watch this excellent doc from adam curtis:
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Century-of-the-Self-full-four-part-documentary
it's a pretty accurate account on how things have changed in the west's view of individuality and sense of self and how that sense has been manipulated by appealing to our "irrational" emotions.
knowledge by itself garners little but the act of aquiring.
knowledge in conjunction with experience,tempered with reason is wisdom.
saying that an older persons advice,thoughts or perceptions are no longer relevant due to their lack of understanding of all things "new"(translation:young)not only reveals a lack of historical comprehension,but is powerfully naive.
which is very much a "youthful" trait.
He's also talking about "Imprinting" which if you watch a kids show all the advertising is geared towards imprinting the children with brands so you have them for life. There was a book about this, maybe it was called "Branding" whatever I'm babbling time for a Coke.
In hopes to possibly reverse some of this. Somehow.
Good points anyhow, though the laugh track makes me want to punch my own balls.
*promote
Adding video to channels (1sttube, Latenight, Talks) - requested by xxovercastxx.
i think that "audience" is prerecorded laughter.
It's a real live audience (as in real people, the show itself is taped). Admittedly though, the audience do take their cues for laughter from a warm-up-comedian guy.
Ah, I love it when a plan comes together.
post 2000+ worst...generation...ever...
You got that right...
I feel a "When I was a kid..." rant coming on.
i hope you are not devaluing the lessons history can teach us.
and the first time society is "truly" progressive....
how about taking a long look at abolitionist history, the new republican party, the labor movement of the late 19th/early 20th century, rise of anarchism in america, the history of the naacp, populism movement, the womens christian temperance union, birth control, the great migration, womens suffrage, the new deal, womens refusal to leave their factory jobs after ww2, all the way up to civil rights, womens equal rights movement, and now were working on gay rights.
our history is wholly progressive. always. just because old foggies accomplished it before we were around and now it seems outdated, that doesnt mean it wasnt progressive. in fact, looking at the list above i see most of these events could have happened in one persons lifetime. how much social change has occured in my lifetime? instead of nirvana we have nickleback, mtv quit showing videos and now airs reality shows, cartoon network..... please someone add something redeeming to this list... oh wait... the end of the cold war, but noone my age had anything to do with it...
i do agree that a society relies on young minds for new innovation, but i think my generation would be better innovators if a well rounded education was easier to come by than pop culture trivia and material consumption.
The premise of his rant is the topic of my doctoral dissertation research, for the Ph.D. I received in June, 2009.
Ah, I love it when a plan comes together.
They actually gave you a PhD for that? Did you have to prove it to the level of Physics or did they just not see how dangerous this sort of analysis is to people in power?
If he rants like that I would watch his show. Otherwise, to me, he is a charismatic, unfunny man who flirts with the camera for the older ladies to gush over.
He is the funniest of the late show hosts in my opinion. This is the only show I can watch that I know I will get laughs out of every night.
^ He owes his existence to Conan Obrien tho. If Conan hadn't been there to do his own shit his own way, and fearlessly fall flat on his face more often than not, Fergussen's show would be just the same as Leno. Late Night talkshow was a formula, Conan -if nothing else- changed that.
I disagree. I honestly think that it's the later time slot. They both knew they didn't have as large of an audience and that the audience was generaly more mature. Conan went his own way but it was more odd and out there entertainment. Craig is just funny. Ferguson's show still follows a "formula", but it is obvious that he can come up with humor on his own outside a script.
The really brilliant thing about this rant is the pressure he has been under to appeal to the younger demographic. He talks about it periodically -- how CBS keeps after him to appeal to the valued 18-35 male segment, or whatever it is. CBS wants him to dye his hair, they want him to do SOMETHING to appeal to the money-making demographic.
And then for him to come out and do this rant, where he tells that same demographic that they are young and stupid is subversive, honest, brave. Maybe his cause and effect isn't 100% accurate. But this guy is didn't claim to be a historian.
I adore Craig Ferguson. He can be silly and tiresome at times. I don't expect perfection. He is honest in a way that I have rarely seen on TV. He may not be right, but he is honest.