Yes, I did get up to watch. Not as early as I did when Diana got married in 1981, but I recorded it and watched the entire news coverage later. It's an historic event and the next chapter in a fairy tale I've followed for most of my life. It's the future of the British monarchy and a happy ending to what was, for the most part, a sad story about real people. I don't get how so many young people can be so disinterested in this real life story... about a family that, like it or not, good or bad, has affected the history of the world we all live in. They tell me that if an event doesn't have personal impact, why should it interest them? A co-worker said "All young people worry about is themselves nowadays." I hope that's not true. I worry about a generation who can't - or won't - see far enough into the past to know that the present exists because of what happened before. How in the world will they be able to learn from MY generation's mistakes? Whatever its significance, it was a beautiful day filled with hope, and a welcome escape from normal life.
Sorry you missed it.
Sorry you missed it.
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2 comments:
I don't think that not having a particular interest in obsessing over one wedding in the British monarchy should be translated as young people not caring about things other than ourselves. You're right in that it is a sad story about real people and certainly one can and should feel sympathy for the tragic things that have happened to their lives. It's just that the focus of most of the media attention seems to be related more to content like who's going to make her dress or how should she do her hair. I haven't seen much that covered all the things that have happened in their family history.
I do care about personal stories that affect our world a great deal, but there are also many other stories of people who aren't born into privileged life, those stories that are forgotten every single day. To devote hours and hours of news coverage and pages and pages of publications to one particular wedding, all the while ignoring the plight of peoples in countries that some people don't even exist, that seems tragic to me.
Anyway, I didn't mean to get on my soapbox or anything on your blog. I just hope you know that I didn't intend for my comment to mean that no one should care, it was just a bit much for me to see every news station covering it at one time. Heck, I didn't even have a countdown on my own wedding day.
I wasn't actually referring to OUR discussions on the subject even though it did strike a nerve. I think you have a valid and well thought out reasoning for not being interested. Besides, who am I to judge about what you are/not interested in? And perhaps it wrong for me to make a blanket statement about all young people. I apologize for that but I've noticed a certain apathy from other young people I know, and coming from a news background, a disinterest in current events is disappointing/disgusting to me and so it culminated in my blog post. However, I do stand by my observations about people of a certain age not caring or knowing about history in general. I don't know if it's from apathy or an education that has left many young people clueless. I think it's both. I see it in my own child and I see it in many of his friends. And I also think it has to do with a generation who is deluged with information overload. We didn't have that luxury so any news was an event to be excited about. For many today, news that would shock the world 30 years ago is no big deal. I think that's why the Japan earthquake/tsunami gets no news time anymore. Kids should still be amazed today that we stepped on the moon because, in any time, in any generation, it is pretty f***king amazing. I agree that there's too much news coverage on Kate's dress and not enough on what it will mean for William to take the throne before his father does. But it is what sells news. And news is a commodity. News directors don't choose one story over the other bc of importance, they choose it over what attracts audiences - to watch the commercials, which pay the bills. The royal wedding was a fun distraction and nothing more so indulging in it is harmless fluff. In a world where every other story is bad news, I think people could use some harmless distraction. I always welcome criticism and contrary opinions. I love critical thinking!
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