Absurdity in society

Messages from the local media are seldom worth quoting. But I would make an exception of the following (translated) line from a newspaper article a couple of days ago:

"...recently, countless and astounding events of absurdity happen in all manners in society. What is in common is that the common sense, composure and civilised standard of the past have all lost their effects. They have been replaced by distortions, lame excuses, lies and defamation."

Well said, except that there is still one word I would contend with. Has these all just happened "recently"? Or is it the remarkable frequency, intensity, magnitude and shamelessness of the more recent events finally jerking people to their senses?

I cannot remember how long ago it was when I started noticing this subtle but sure sign of degradation, mainly from the advertisements. As said, you seldom find anything from the media you would rave about, but there were, in my childhood and adolescent years, some advertisements that I would find classy or humorous. In the last decade or so, that isn't the case any more. You no longer see any good puns or storylines in, for example, the TV advertisements. "You have to understand that these advertisements are not for us," I remember telling my wife many years ago. "They are for our compatriots." I was referring to the media's targeted audience in the Pearl River Delta, who have access to Hong Kong TV channels.

But it is actually worse than just a lack of wonderful productions. The phenomenon reflects a lack of respect for the audience. These days, producers and script writers either just freely bombard you with visceral sales lines, or create scenes and images which are absolutely contrived or contorted and completely removed from reality. Simply put, the strategies are either bluntly brainwashing or blatantly lying. It is a complete insult of the audience's intellect or, worse still, it was as if they think the audience are complete idiots with no intellect to insult.

Unfortunately, it was not until recently, when such degradation has become more and more obvious at different aspects of our life, when these strategies of bluntly brainwashing and blatantly lying have been widely, openly and shamelessly adopted by politicians, that people begin to feel hurt and to cry foul.
It was rude awakening, for sure. But they should have known better. What else can you expect when you are under the rule of the Communist Party, a gang of criminals who only look to strengthen their administration by fooling and intoxicating the people.

Fittingly, the above-mentioned newspaper article finishes by saying:

"Integration between China and Hong Kong is just around the corner."