Blogging Frees Creativity

I was channel surfing the other night between commercials during the baseball game (I always do that) and sat on CSI: Miami for a minute. That show really is hard to digest.

Nonetheless, one can't argue that well-dressed mannequin's, beautiful scenery, exaggerated characters - some of whom are simply not believable thanks to poor character development are a recipe for a Bruckheimer success story.

Heaven forbid the sooty Miami underground is ever explored. CSI Miami is the Miami Vice of the 21st century. Beautiful scummy people lurk among us. Though Miami Vice was far more stark and interesting.

Canada, for its part, has been a marsh land of television drama through the years but lately some pretty good shows have been produced here. The one that springs to mind is Da Vinci's Inquest (later Da Vinci's Hall and possibly some other title). For its part, Quebec produced a decent French-language mafia show called Omerta.

What I appreciated about DI was its attempt to be realistic. With borderline acting in some episodes, the overall package was nonetheless very good by Canadian standards and pretty good by American ones. The show is set in Vancouver - easily one of North America's most beautiful city. Yet, the viewer rarely saw panned shots of, for example, the Vancouver shoreline that suggested the city was nothing more than a post card. In other words, the show was not afraid to explore the ugly side of the city. In doing so, it did not insult the viewer. CSI seeks to superficially attract us, Da Vinci's Inquest hooks you with realism.

CSI is like any other cookie cutter show around. How many do we need? I'm still waiting for CSI: Saskatoon - Or a parody of it anyway. And please, enough with the geniuses that run the labs. I don't buy it.

I digress. My point is that a select few control what we see or read. An oligarchy of lords run the fiefdom so to speak. If one pays close attention we are not always fed the best of what creative minds can offer. Someone or some group get to control what gets on and what doesn't while making too much money in the process. Earning wealth is fine if it actually contributes something of value to society. Are the big networks doing their part? Bemusement fills my face whenever I hear a big-time exec demand 'originality'. Originality strictly belongs to another class of people now and they are not on CBS or ABC or NBC.

I have to admit I do like CSI Las Vegas because of Grissom. His character is plausible. I also like his recent comments about moral relativism in the post modern age. How our moral compass is pointed in one direction but for some reason we are failing to follow it. We define our own personal moral code now and this is indeed troublesome. This was a case where I actually was impressed with a show. They challenged an existing social problem.

The greatest periods in human history took place when all aspects of a civil society were running at full throttle to enhance human achievement. These periods were marked by the fact that thinkers and inventors strove to appeal to the highest common denominator. They were not held back by polls or ratings. They only had to answer to themselves, God and community they were a part of. Ignorance and pestilence was indeed rampant but it did not dictate the path of humanism.

Today, the media has given a voice to the lowest common denominator. As such, you have to put in power minds that understand the sort of person who enjoys Paris Hilton. Everything spills from there. We operate in an age that is opposite to Classical Athens, the Age of Antonine's, Renaissance, Enlightenment and so on. We are the barbarians of a new era.

Blogging can change all this. Blogging is a force that has been unleashed to give the freelance and creative mind a voice - the great equalizer. A voice that is ignored by many newspapers, magazines and major networks. More savvy and thoughtful editors have seen the worth in it. There is still, however, a long way to go.

Imagine a network like NBC that has an army of staff writers outside its stuffy culture? One could only imagine the explosion of ideas that would grace our screens. Imagine one where 'equal diversity opportunity' discrimination is erased from the desks of big execs? Untie the free mind once and for all.

With over 50 million blogs (since I wrote this a year ago it has risen to 70 million) according to Technorati, there is no doubt many are less than impressive. However, I have read many that can rival anything put out by traditional mainstream channels.

Blogging is the new power. The new knowledge.

It should be given a chance for it is urging us to usher in a post-Humanist world.

That way, we can see that we're much more than CSI Miami.