The Thick Society

There we are, it’s official now: The Yes and No to AV campaigns have declared the British electorate to be as thick as a brick. Although I’m sure even the brick would be offended by the insults thrown at its intelligence by various leaflets and broadcasts on electoral reform. But, whatever else can be said about them (a lot), at least they have thought of a whole variety of ways to treat everyone like a complete moron.

It starts with simply patronising – the best example probably being this NO2AV video, starring a bunch of confused students getting a lesson on AV by an equally clueless teacher. To give them at least some credit, they must either be quite tolerable actors or the No-campaign is right and there are indeed people out there who are too thick to rank a few options in order of preference.

No News is Bad News

Have you got news for me? Yes, indeed. And not just any news. Breaking News! Really? When you watch the news nowadays, ‘they seem to be in constant crisis –  everything is a disaster’ as Charlie Brooker put it so concisely in this week’s Ten o’Clock Live. Gone are the times when Breaking News actually meant something big – today’s Breaking News pop up and vanish from headlines and memory with the frequency of X Factor winners.

For the media, the calculation is simple enough. Times have changed. In addition to the traditional morning paper and the daily news broadcast, they have to keep up 24/7 online coverage, iPhone apps and co. There is a lot more space and time to fill – but not necessarily more news to fill it with. Similarly, though the need to keep up to date is undoubtedly rising, the media need to sustain it, they need to make people feel it is vital to check their websites every couple of hours in order not to miss anything big. And make no mistake, everything is big, regarless of its acual news value.

Let’s taboo it!

Do you know Taboo? The popular board game where you have to explain something without using a number of words, usually those that otherwise would have first come to your mind? Over time they came up with diverse variations of the game: Taboo Junior, Taboo Pantomine, Taboo Celebrity… When I happened to watch PMQs today, I couldn’t help to think of a new version: Taboo Parliament. While growing increasingly frustrated listening to people talking at cross purposes and saying exactly nothing at all in a way that unfortunately involves a lot of words, the idea began to take shape in my mind.

Just imagine how much more fun the whole thing could be if you gave the Speaker one of these Buzzers and a list of all the things no one wants to hear anymore.