Comments on: the race to the bottom. http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/ Meditations on strategy and life Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:06:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Joshua http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8083 Joshua Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:02:30 +0000 http://dev.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8083 I believe it is easy to be force feed celebrity bullshit because most of us have settled with a life that is the "norm" so even though we hate conflict and our brain tells us to stay away from such things we indulge this thirst for gossip that otherwise would never come about in our lives leaving us to sustain a boring life that has no meaning other then to just die like the mAny people before us. I have to agree with the fact that reporting a celebrity death is important in the terms of them contributing to our society. I mean our society makes us, US! Now when it becomes a top notch story like you said Ryan, is when it becomes the bullshit main-stream stuff we are forced to watch and listen too. I believe it is easy to be force feed celebrity bullshit because most of us have settled with a life that is the “norm” so even though we hate conflict and our brain tells us to stay away from such things we indulge this thirst for gossip that otherwise would never come about in our lives leaving us to sustain a boring life that has no meaning other then to just die like the mAny people before us. I have to agree with the fact that reporting a celebrity death is important in the terms of them contributing to our society. I mean our society makes us, US! Now when it becomes a top notch story like you said Ryan, is when it becomes the bullshit main-stream stuff we are forced to watch and listen too.

]]> By: alex http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8082 alex Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:29:52 +0000 http://dev.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8082 Coincidently OpenCulture posted something brief on this as well. Wikipedia's most popular articles are related to pop-culture(eg. celebrities, 300) than actual educational topics. One of the guys in the comments has something good to say as well <a href="http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2007/03/wikipedias_some.html#comments" rel="nofollow">http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2007/03/wikipedias_some.html#comments</a> Coincidently OpenCulture posted something brief on this as well. Wikipedia’s most popular articles are related to pop-culture(eg. celebrities, 300) than actual educational topics. One of the guys in the comments has something good to say as well

http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2007/03/wikipedias_some.html#comments

]]> By: Kilo http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8081 Kilo Wed, 28 Mar 2007 15:52:56 +0000 http://dev.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8081 This addressed the extremely bothersome question I've had for months now about the celebrity worship in our news (even the all-mighty cnn.com). Ok, someone who is moderately famous died. Why is this commanding headlines with a war, an occupation, tense relations with dictators and etc. all happening currently (esp. with regard to her death being almost 2 months or so ago)? Even though they are pushing her death down our throats I still refuse to give it more than it deserves, which is maybe 2 minutes to read the first report of death, 2 minutes to read the autopsy report, and maybe 2 minutes to read the summary 3 months from now. "It's cheaper to drag something on than it is to find something new" Truer words have never described the news, if not everything we do. (Just found your blog, read a few of the entries, looks like top-notch material, I look forward to reading more) This addressed the extremely bothersome question I’ve had for months now about the celebrity worship in our news (even the all-mighty cnn.com). Ok, someone who is moderately famous died. Why is this commanding headlines with a war, an occupation, tense relations with dictators and etc. all happening currently (esp. with regard to her death being almost 2 months or so ago)?

Even though they are pushing her death down our throats I still refuse to give it more than it deserves, which is maybe 2 minutes to read the first report of death, 2 minutes to read the autopsy report, and maybe 2 minutes to read the summary 3 months from now.

“It’s cheaper to drag something on than it is to find something new” Truer words have never described the news, if not everything we do.

(Just found your blog, read a few of the entries, looks like top-notch material, I look forward to reading more)

]]> By: Ryan Holiday http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8080 Ryan Holiday Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:16:23 +0000 http://dev.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8080 They say the OJ Bronco chase was the last big media story/cultural event. Something like 35 million people tuned into it at some point. I think Ramanjaun is right in that this has some roots in OJ. In that anyone who knows anything about the idea of a Long Tail knows that audiences are becoming more and more fractured. The idea of there even being an American culture is totally false. We're a nation of tiny niches and pockets--and the old distribution model simply forced groups together and made them compromise. Which is essentially what these celebrity/sensationalist pieces are. Attempts to create general content instead of catering to each niche. The former is cheap and the latter destroys their lofty profit margins. For christ sake, newspapers used to do 20% profits each year. They say the OJ Bronco chase was the last big media story/cultural event. Something like 35 million people tuned into it at some point.

I think Ramanjaun is right in that this has some roots in OJ. In that anyone who knows anything about the idea of a Long Tail knows that audiences are becoming more and more fractured. The idea of there even being an American culture is totally false. We’re a nation of tiny niches and pockets–and the old distribution model simply forced groups together and made them compromise.

Which is essentially what these celebrity/sensationalist pieces are. Attempts to create general content instead of catering to each niche. The former is cheap and the latter destroys their lofty profit margins. For christ sake, newspapers used to do 20% profits each year.

]]> By: thapa http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8079 thapa Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:57:14 +0000 http://dev.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8079 I would hesitate to pin this on the O.J. trial. There have been large media events before 1994, but it was probably the advent of cable channels dedicated entirely to news in the late '80s and early '90s that created a vacuum for ratings stomping celebrity stories to fill. We used to get our news in one big burst at breakfast, reading the paper, and in dribbles during the day from the radio and smaller burst in the evenings with Cronkite. With cable TV and the Internets, most people get a steady stream of information all the time - which forces the dilution of content and a need (fueled by greed and sloth) to find stories that particularly resonate with audiences. I would hesitate to pin this on the O.J. trial.

There have been large media events before 1994, but it was probably the advent of cable channels dedicated entirely to news in the late ’80s and early ’90s that created a vacuum for ratings stomping celebrity stories to fill.

We used to get our news in one big burst at breakfast, reading the paper, and in dribbles during the day from the radio and smaller burst in the evenings with Cronkite. With cable TV and the Internets, most people get a steady stream of information all the time – which forces the dilution of content and a need (fueled by greed and sloth) to find stories that particularly resonate with audiences.

]]> By: Ramanjuan http://www.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8078 Ramanjuan Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:17:32 +0000 http://dev.ryanholiday.net/the-race-to-the-bottom/#comment-8078 I think we also have to factor in when this all clusterfuck began. This madness in the media started with O.J. in '94 (a fairly dull year politically and socially in America--Whitewater?) and blew up from there. When the media realized how big a draw celebrity could be to their ratings, they started catering to that market big-time without any real research. And they didn't need to because of their monopoly on TV media (who was actually going to compete with CNN--and now Fox and the other news giants?). There won't be much of an incentive to change things until alternative forms of media makes its way into the mainstream and challenges the perch of the dinosaurs. We're not at that tipping point yet though. I think we also have to factor in when this all clusterfuck began. This madness in the media started with O.J. in ’94 (a fairly dull year politically and socially in America–Whitewater?) and blew up from there. When the media realized how big a draw celebrity could be to their ratings, they started catering to that market big-time without any real research. And they didn’t need to because of their monopoly on TV media (who was actually going to compete with CNN–and now Fox and the other news giants?).

There won’t be much of an incentive to change things until alternative forms of media makes its way into the mainstream and challenges the perch of the dinosaurs. We’re not at that tipping point yet though.

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