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Global Warning

Theodore Dalrymple

Wednesday, 23rd April 2008

Theodore Dalrymple delivers a Global Warning

Does anyone actually feel mentally sustained by this pabulum? The terrible thing was that I couldn’t get it out of my mind. What the wise man of football had said had the dual defect, that bore into my brain like a worm, of being both banal and untrue. Luck can play a large part in sporting contests. Banality-cum-Untruth: surely the heraldic motto of many a public figure.

All the pubs in Dublin, even those with the strongest literary associations, now have huge plasma screens from which sports commentators drivel at various volumes, but always at interminable length.

However, it is not only on the subject of sport that state-subsidised drivel is propagated. In another taxi I listened to a famous Harvard economist being interviewed after the collapse of a bank. He was asked whether this meant there would be a recession.

‘Well,’ he said (I paraphrase), ‘there could be, in fact I think it is likely. On the other hand there might not be, because nothing is certain.’ He also opined that the recession, if there was one, could be either long or short, and either deep or shallow, or, of course, somewhere in between. This was said with oracular portentousness.

Still, all is not quite lost. On the boat over, I heard a little boy ask his father, ‘Daddy, what does sir mean?’ ‘It’s what you call someone older than yourself,’ his father answered.

Civilisation has not yet been totally extinguished by broadcasting.

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TDK

April 25th, 2008 10:10am

Discussing recessions is an interesting case in itself. Economic downturns can, to a degree, be caused by falling confidence. A prediction of recession from a well regarded economic expert might therefore be a self fulfilling prophecy. It's therefore no surprise that an interviewee will be keen not to be too certain.

I don't see that applies to football.

Dodgy Geezer

April 25th, 2008 12:12pm

I am unhappy to take issue with the Master about banality in broadcasting - a subject on which I agree with him. But to me he seems to have picked the wrong target.

If I were asked to pontificate on a similar question, I might well introduce the subject with such a generalisation about strengths and weaknesses. Then I might go on to ennumerate them, and provide my opinion on the likely outcome. I can see nothing wrong with this.

I think Mr Dalrymple would be on stronger ground if he addressed the forced hyperactivity and fixed grimaces which are de rigeur for any children's programme. Here, banality and ignorance go hand-in-hand with the supposition that young people do not want information, but flashing lights and dance rhythms. Here is where the attention span of a generation is being forced down, and, as with the Jesuits, this should be our primary target.

Incidentally, TDK, in all sporting confrontations team morale is a primary factor, and being 'written off' by an expert commentator is very likely to have some effect on this.