(rant) Warning, Val is annoyed

[vg_ford]

Warning: this post does wander into rant territory. It also wanders into politics, a bit, but mostly it’s a rant. You have been warned.

I’m in training at a new job. I haven’t switched companies, but I’ve been promoted, so I’m getting training in one of the new areas I’ll be supporting (pensions, if you really want to know). Because the trainees are all seasoned members of the company, we’re switching up the training with some team-building exercises, mostly Top Ten lists. The instructor gives us the topic, we have to come up with the top ten things in that topic. It’s been all over the map, and for the most part, I’ve learned some interesting things.

Which brings me to the subject of today’s post: why I feel America is going down the tubes. On Tuesday, we did a Top Ten list on Yahoo’s Top Ten Searches of 2011. My team and I came up with ten events/persons that we thought would be in the top 10. Things like Steve Jobs’ death. The Japanese earthquake/tsunami. The debt ceiling crisis. The Royal Wedding. The Greek Debt crisis. You know, big things. IMPORTANT THINGS.

Of the five things listed above, ONE of them was on Yahoo’s list. The Japanese earthquake, which apparently not even the average citizens of the US could fail to notice. Do you know what else was listed? Jennifer Aniston. American Idol. Casey Anthony. (You can see the entire top ten list here: Yahoo Top 10 Searches for 2011) American freaking Idol makes the list, but Steve Jobs’ death doesn’t. No politicians made the top ten, actually, which (considering the state of the Republican offerings this time around) surprised me. It also saddened me.

I will be the first to admit that I am probably not much like the “average American” that fills out these polls. In other times, I would probably be considered a bluestocking. I’m not interested in most celebrities, or who’s screwing who. I consider Jackass a blight on the world, followed closely by most “reality TV.” (Although I do admit that I adore Food Network and Cooking Channel. Do those count? And Ghost Hunters/Ghost Adventures. Anything with ghosts in it, I can pretty much guarentee I’ll at least try.) I don’t listen to most contemporary music – I like country, for the most part. I read, rather than watch TV. I am a gamer geek, although not a huge one (just WoW, pretty much, although I’m contemplating finding my copy of Master of Magic again). I write. And I read, did I mention that? Not just books, but anything I can get my hands on.

So these people who follow Snooki or Justin Bieber or Sarah Palin are like aliens to me. I despise people who can’t seem to make their own opinions, but follow others like sheep. Seriously. I don’t mind if you have different opinions from me, as long as you’ve thought through them and aren’t just spouting whatever the current party line from Newt or Glenn Beck is. THINK about things before you spout them.

And for gods sake, stop watching reality TV. That stuff rots your brains.

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[jackoutofthebox.livejournal.com]

most scadians don't really follow that stuff either. But your right. There was a very funny poster a while back with a picture of one of those Kardashian girls and Carl Sagan side by side. The caption underneath said "If you know "her" but don't know "Him" your part of the problem".

True Dat!

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that one. And you'd be surprised at how many people do watch reality shows - and who they are.

[freya46.livejournal.com]

Ditto. I watch the food network as well. I'm with you on all of it.

[baka-kit.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I'd recognize a picture of Carl Sagan, even though I'm familiar with his work and ideas.

'Course, I'm not sure I'd recognize a picture of a Kardashian girl, either.

(Awesome icon, BTW. I want to shop there!)

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

I agree with your sentiment, but as someone who works with the major search engines (and thus, consumer behavior on search engines), I want to point out that a lot of the things that people "should" be search for (such as major events) that don't need to be searched for, as the information will be readily supplied to them by a firehouse of news sources, Twitter feeds, FB, etc. I never had to search for information about the Japanese earthquake, or Steve Job's death because I got that information handed to me by friends, (hell, even) text messages, etc. who had also come across it via Twitter, FB, WikiNews, RSS, news sites, etc.

Secondly, while it's somewhat regional, Yahoo is a small, specific share of the search engine market (far less than half), and tends to be geared towards entertainment (go to the Yahoo homepage, it's pretty telling). I suspect a similar list for Google would be very different, although I recall that 6 years ago, "free porn" was probably still one of the top searches--at least on the unfiltered lists.

Yes, people are vapid and obsessed with celebrity gossip, but I'm not sure Yahoo Search is necessarily the place to make a definitive decision of the depravity of America.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

No, and I realize that, but it was yet another symptom of the problem - and came at just the wrong time for me. I just - I dunno. When I do searches, I search for things that I want to know about. I guess my real point is that I don't understand why it seems so many people are searching for these things. But yes, these are valid points as well.

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

I don't get why a lot of people are interested in the things they are interested in knowing more about, but I've generally found it means little in terms of their whole worth as a human being.

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

You're probably right in general, but I think you may be overstating the case, for a couple of reasons.

They didn't ask for "Top 10 news stories of 2011" they asked for "top 10 searches". Those aren't the same thing.

Also, those were the top 10 searches on yahoo. Who uses yahoo to search? Everyone I know uses Google. I didn't find a top 10 for the year on Google, but did find the top 10 for today so far here: http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends You can look back at other dates too. It's got a much wider variety of terms.

So by looking at the section of the populace who uses yahoo as a search engine, you're already self-selecting for a less picky and serious user, IMHO.

The other reason for not seeing major events showing up in a search engine is that you can read about them without needing to search. You open the Yahoo news page, and there's a spread on the earthquake, for example. That's full of links to other stories about it. You could spend hours reading about it when it was going on, without ever touching a search engine. (I know, that doesn't mean people did, but I don't think the fact that they didn't use a search engine to find the information necessarily indicates that they didn't).

[jackoutofthebox.livejournal.com]

Could be that Yahoo was the sponsor of that "top 10 searches" it gets their name out there in the hopes of attracting more use and thus more advertising opportunities. Pop Culture news is hardly ever relevant. It's about what the money draw is.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

True. This happened to be the one our instructor chose. But looking at CNN and their Top 10 lists are also disheartening (we were doing it yesterday during a break, because we were having this conversation.)

[fencerm2.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

Hee. :D

[baka-kit.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call most of the Food Network "reality TV." Well, maybe "The Next Iron Chef" is. Definitely not "Good Eats," though. It's educational! It contains science, and everything! (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

[vg-ford.livejournal.com]

I like your story! :D