that mainstream consumers are dumber than ever before.
Seriously, what has happened to good taste and intellectual curiosity? There was a time when a band like the Beatles could sell millions of records and a film like The Godfather could gross over a 100 million at the box office. In today's entertainment landscape the former would be a struggling indie band and the latter probably wouldn't even be greenlit for production. What we have today is Paris Hilton's relevancy and Lady Gaga comparing herself to David Bowie.
Now, I'm all for tuning out and escaping into the latest blockbuster or ty reality show, but I treat those guilty pleasures like a Double Down from KFC: something that should only be enjoyed in moderation. But moderation is word that today's 18-35 demographic has no understanding of. They crave constant escape and "entertainment" like the clinically obese crave saturated fats, the word "bored" scaring them in a similar fashion as the word "exercise" scares a 400 pounder.
This devolution is evident everywhere. From Kickass being ranked higher on IMDB's top 250 than Ikiru, The Hustler, and Wages of Fear, to Autotune, ringtone rap, and Ke$ha having a career, to Nigahiga having 2 million subscribers on Youtube.
Call me an elitist, I don't care, but I can't think of any other decade since television was invented that the movie going, tv watching, and music buying public has been so apathetic, merely content to consume whatever Madison Avenue tells them to. To be unaware of the "alternative" is inexcusable in today's world. With the Internet, you can expose yourself to anything with the touch of the button. I remember having to s out 40.00 for artsy-fartsy foreign movies. Now you can stream such movies instantly with Netflix.
What does it tell you when people have become more myopic and resistant to exploration when the access to information has expanded, literally, a million-fold in the last 15 years?
Tells me what I opened this rant with: "Mainsteam consumers are dumber than ever before."
Now my question to all of you is: Why?