The vacuous vapidity of contemporary popular culture is unsurpassed worldwide by that found in our dear state. Reality television shows have immense viewership in Israel, and it seems like nobody speaks out against the underlying idiocy of the entire venture.
"Survivor" is a popular favorite. Contestants of minimal intelligence and generic personality cast themselves away on a desert island with only the production and film crew to accompany them. There they will subsist on only enough material comforts to make the likes of Paris Hilton squeamish and yearning to return to civilization. The cast are roughing it like Indonesian refugees after the tsunami were going on vacation. Nevertheless, watchers wholeheartedly sympathize with the plight of these poor souls-- the contestants, not the homeless refugees.
Divided into groups, the stars of "Survivor" compete in challenges against one another closely reminiscent of color war at summer camp. Whoever wins the inner tube race, eats the grossest critter, or stands on one foot the longest gets to play again next time.
To engage the shallower members of the audience, cast members manufacture drama by pitting competitors against one another through bitchy behavior worthy of the worst of soap operas and best daytime talk shows. These are everyday Israelis in the rough, and petty nonsense is sure to set off a salvo of snarkiness. Perhaps that is the appeal for the Israeli public: being able to watch ordinary folk duke it out without the risk of personal injury.
The amount of backstabbing, milling of rumors, and vociferous shouting with fingers pointed that goes on in an average episode makes sessions of the Knesset look well-mannered. Nonetheless, the reality Knesset channel does not hold the same popularity despite having all the same elements. Perhaps this stems from Israeli society's desperate need to get away from the ever present, unchanging problems that have frequented the news for twenty years. Political doldrums keep the peace process in place, but have cut Israelis adrift. They seek escape in television shows that depict "reality" in the most absurdly unrealistic way possible.
I am not sure what is the most pathetic aspect of such television programs: the atrocious attempts to act by the contestants, the only half-convincing charade of 'reality', or the pathetic followers of such tripe. The only people laughing harder than I do at this weekly cavalcade of imbecility are the network executives raking in a boatload of sheqels.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The People of the Book went on a hike, literally.
While I am the first to agree that the state of Israeli education leaves much to be desired, I should like to point out greater trends among Israeli youth that may give us different indicators for the future than those dismal figures about Israeli test scores. Dan Ben-David discusses such in depth in his recent article in Ha'aretz:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=after+a+turbulent+decade&itemNo=1137513
Contrary to this, I believe that Israelis are becoming more worldly have an ever increasing interest in travel and in learning about foreign cultures. The paradigm of the secular Israeli Jew who completes his or her army service, is to work for some period while living with their parents, until they've save up enough to go traveling for 6 months to a year somewhere in the Third World. Israelis who have had such experiences often boast of the close relationships they made with locals in Peru and India, though it seems that more Israelis manage to learn elementary Spanish than do Hindi, Tamil or Thai.
Similarly, many leave the army and move directly to the US or Canada to work and make money. Israelis work all over the western world, and those with European passports or European connections end up in France, the UK, and Germany while working on projects in Eastern Europe.
Unlike the early period of the state, in which the adoption of the Hebrew language by the myriad of groups coming to Israel was seen as essential to social and economic cohesion, the Israeli identity has solidified itself through the Hebrew language and now there is no longer a fear that speaking foreign languages will somehow erode that identity. Although Israelis have undoubtedly become television addicts, the TV is sending out messages of globalisation that are easily swallowed by the Israeli public that desires to travel and be more like Americans and Europeans.
Israelis do not approach this worldliness in an academic manner but they are nonetheless interested in many things that could be further explored in academia if their interests were peaked appropriately. Unquestionably, these problems must be addressed starting at the elementary school level, but as a Christian might say, no one is beyond redemption. The fact is that the tools exist in Israel to educate oneself, and many families are successful in passing on intellectualism through the generations. Despite all of Israel's remarkable development, there exists within her an even more remarkable untapped potential. This country has transformed itself in miraculous ways since its inception, but what could it look like if our children competed with the Japanese in maths and physics, and competed with the Europeans in literacy and the social sciences?
The unfortunate disclaimer that must be made is that all of what I have just said pertains only to secular Jews in this somewhat democratic state, whose numbers are declining. More to come with what to do with the religious...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=after+a+turbulent+decade&itemNo=1137513
Contrary to this, I believe that Israelis are becoming more worldly have an ever increasing interest in travel and in learning about foreign cultures. The paradigm of the secular Israeli Jew who completes his or her army service, is to work for some period while living with their parents, until they've save up enough to go traveling for 6 months to a year somewhere in the Third World. Israelis who have had such experiences often boast of the close relationships they made with locals in Peru and India, though it seems that more Israelis manage to learn elementary Spanish than do Hindi, Tamil or Thai.
Similarly, many leave the army and move directly to the US or Canada to work and make money. Israelis work all over the western world, and those with European passports or European connections end up in France, the UK, and Germany while working on projects in Eastern Europe.
Unlike the early period of the state, in which the adoption of the Hebrew language by the myriad of groups coming to Israel was seen as essential to social and economic cohesion, the Israeli identity has solidified itself through the Hebrew language and now there is no longer a fear that speaking foreign languages will somehow erode that identity. Although Israelis have undoubtedly become television addicts, the TV is sending out messages of globalisation that are easily swallowed by the Israeli public that desires to travel and be more like Americans and Europeans.
Israelis do not approach this worldliness in an academic manner but they are nonetheless interested in many things that could be further explored in academia if their interests were peaked appropriately. Unquestionably, these problems must be addressed starting at the elementary school level, but as a Christian might say, no one is beyond redemption. The fact is that the tools exist in Israel to educate oneself, and many families are successful in passing on intellectualism through the generations. Despite all of Israel's remarkable development, there exists within her an even more remarkable untapped potential. This country has transformed itself in miraculous ways since its inception, but what could it look like if our children competed with the Japanese in maths and physics, and competed with the Europeans in literacy and the social sciences?
The unfortunate disclaimer that must be made is that all of what I have just said pertains only to secular Jews in this somewhat democratic state, whose numbers are declining. More to come with what to do with the religious...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tel Aviv, the White City Again
Walking around Tel Aviv gives the perceptive pedestrian ample examples of interesting architecture, some more appealing than others. The Bauhaus architecture intermingles with ever-present greenery in the form, more often than not, of over-arching fig trees and towering palms. Fortunately for its residents, the verdure serves to cool the city down, creating a garden-like urban environment. More importantly, it masks the unpleasant discoloration of the poured concrete exteriors of the buildings.
The urban planners of Tel Aviv could not have anticipated the high volume of airborne pollutants present in the modern metropolis.
The image of the city has suffered as a result. Most buildings are in need of a good paint job. Others linger unrenovated for decades, their façades cracked, chipped, peeling, and soiled a mottled brown and gray. Derelict buildings dot the center of town while elegant skyscrapers rise from the beach to the periphery.
Many of Tel Aviv's older buildings need a serious face lift. Some high-pressure washing or sandblasting (saltwater and sand are in great abundance) followed by a generous lick of whitewash could do the city good. Heat would be reflected more effectively, further cooling it during the oppressive summer heat. More importantly the city would reclaim its outdated title of "the White City" and look significantly nicer.
Cost is an important consideration, and often the inhibition for initiating such public works projects. Whitewash, however, is a cheap, effective, and safe way of revamping exteriors. The municipality could either auction the project to private contractors or establish a task force for public maintenance and appearance. This would stimulate the economy by creating jobs and lowering unemployment in a Roosevelt-esque public works vein.
The urban planners of Tel Aviv could not have anticipated the high volume of airborne pollutants present in the modern metropolis.
The image of the city has suffered as a result. Most buildings are in need of a good paint job. Others linger unrenovated for decades, their façades cracked, chipped, peeling, and soiled a mottled brown and gray. Derelict buildings dot the center of town while elegant skyscrapers rise from the beach to the periphery.
Many of Tel Aviv's older buildings need a serious face lift. Some high-pressure washing or sandblasting (saltwater and sand are in great abundance) followed by a generous lick of whitewash could do the city good. Heat would be reflected more effectively, further cooling it during the oppressive summer heat. More importantly the city would reclaim its outdated title of "the White City" and look significantly nicer.
Cost is an important consideration, and often the inhibition for initiating such public works projects. Whitewash, however, is a cheap, effective, and safe way of revamping exteriors. The municipality could either auction the project to private contractors or establish a task force for public maintenance and appearance. This would stimulate the economy by creating jobs and lowering unemployment in a Roosevelt-esque public works vein.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
What happened to being the "People of the Book"?
A subject of recent discussion amongst my peers and me has been the unacceptable state of the Israeli education system. From hull to crow's nest, primary school to university, schooling here stinks. Funding is meager, teachers are under-qualified, and no semblance of interest is feigned by the students.
An anecdote to demonstrate: I tutor a nine-year-old girl in English once a week. To my utter dismay, I learned she couldn't locate Israel on a world map. I don't mean she missed the tiny speck of a country by a little. I mean she was thousands of miles off with her stab in the dark guess. This is simple unacceptable.
There are many faults with the current system, not least the fact that school is let out around noon, letting rambunctious droves of kids rove about the streets instead of studying.
More critical is the absence of books, the backbone of Jewish heritage. For a people who claim to be the "people of the book", there is a depressing shortage of public libraries and book stores, and even the university libraries lack many titles (most especially recent publications). If public libraries exist in this country, they are a better kept secret than the reactor in Dimona. Steimatsky's, the most prevalent chain of book stores in Israel, is pathetically undersized: an atrophied Borders with more men's magazines than literature. Second-hand bookstores are few and far between, and the books are in disgraceful condition and of limited variety. Most look like they haven't been visited, let alone cleaned, since the Six Day War.
Israel's disinterest in literature is evident in the general illiteracy of the populace-- university students included. I had the pleasure of speaking to a first year architecture student who was amazed to discover only recently that the Sphinx was not an original Las Vegas construction, but an Egyptian monument thousands of years old. In another instance, one of my professors had to summarize biblical narratives to a dumbfounded and completely unfamiliar class.
For the sake of Israel's future prosperity, this national disinterest in the written word and engrossment in frivolous anti-intellectual pursuits must cease. An illiterate, uncultured nation will ultimately fail for it will cease to yield productive citizens capable of critical analysis and communication with the wider world.
An anecdote to demonstrate: I tutor a nine-year-old girl in English once a week. To my utter dismay, I learned she couldn't locate Israel on a world map. I don't mean she missed the tiny speck of a country by a little. I mean she was thousands of miles off with her stab in the dark guess. This is simple unacceptable.
There are many faults with the current system, not least the fact that school is let out around noon, letting rambunctious droves of kids rove about the streets instead of studying.
More critical is the absence of books, the backbone of Jewish heritage. For a people who claim to be the "people of the book", there is a depressing shortage of public libraries and book stores, and even the university libraries lack many titles (most especially recent publications). If public libraries exist in this country, they are a better kept secret than the reactor in Dimona. Steimatsky's, the most prevalent chain of book stores in Israel, is pathetically undersized: an atrophied Borders with more men's magazines than literature. Second-hand bookstores are few and far between, and the books are in disgraceful condition and of limited variety. Most look like they haven't been visited, let alone cleaned, since the Six Day War.
Israel's disinterest in literature is evident in the general illiteracy of the populace-- university students included. I had the pleasure of speaking to a first year architecture student who was amazed to discover only recently that the Sphinx was not an original Las Vegas construction, but an Egyptian monument thousands of years old. In another instance, one of my professors had to summarize biblical narratives to a dumbfounded and completely unfamiliar class.
For the sake of Israel's future prosperity, this national disinterest in the written word and engrossment in frivolous anti-intellectual pursuits must cease. An illiterate, uncultured nation will ultimately fail for it will cease to yield productive citizens capable of critical analysis and communication with the wider world.
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