Wednesday, August 15, 2007

What the $£@&*!

Ok this is an easy one. You're at a traffic light ( Robot -if you're in South Africa). Your window's are down, it's been hot. Two guys crossing the road throw a wrapper into your car. So what would you do. Drive off of course.

The vehicle's owner got out to challenge the youths and got stabbed. He would later die. Something's very wrong. If you're travelling to the UK, probability and the law of averages suggest you'll be fine, but have a bad day; wrong place, wrong time, and that's it.

The UK in the 90s did an incredible job of victimising DUI ( driving whilst drunk). Some people still do it, but the sense of bravdo attached has been diminished to idiocy, potential killers at worst. It makes you think why they can't mount a sustained campaign against this disease.

One of my former students made a comment in a vox pop: "what if". What one thing would he change, I asked. The way the media operate. They shouldn't just report but follow up, change things.

You could view what he said as rather naive, but he is onto something. In Ghana, where he lives, television has a strong social role. I'm not naive enough to believe TV makers should also become police. Make the programme, catch the culprits, but is there a role TV could be playing that until now it isn't. It does Live Aid to save the world!

A five second message strategic across targeted progs about the cause-effect of knives. Oh wait, that's already being done. They're called ads, and once the client runs out of money, someone else takes that slot.

So what's the solution? Cuz do nothing and, well. In the 0.2 world can traditional media be allowed to also multiskill and have a conscious?

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