Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
What catches your attention more - a statistic highlighting the levels of corruption over the past five decades or a sting operation featuring one of the most well-respected ministers of the country taking bribes to direct public funds away from their destined purpose?
Scandals - be it political or otherwise, are scandalous -they attract public attention and shed light on problems that the public would otherwise be indifferent to.
One could argue that all the scandals that the citizens effectively care about are the juicy tid-bits that one might read on page three. These are primarily concerned with 'private' lives of celebrities and are as germane to the nation's and world's problems as the celebrities themselves. Look at the flip side of the coin - if the intelligent denizens of a city have the predilection to read such pieces of trivia, what would their reaction be if they are presented with scandals which indeed concern the problems of the common man -it would be far from ignorance, I can assure you that. The gossip part of scandals is indeed what appeals to the readers who, then, are inadvertently engrossed and may , in fact, start thinking about its possible implications and repercussions. This interest in scandals is what needs to be capitalized.
To provide some evidence, the Indian subcontinen, known the world over for corruption - everbody knew about it for a long but how did it come under the spotlight - 2G spectrum scam, commenwealth games scam - there is an associated scam or scandal with everything the nation organises under the sun. Move to its next-door neighbour, China and the Foxconn scandal - it highlighted the pitiable working conditions that multinational companies like Apple subject its workers to. In fact, the only way disrepute is brought to any major organisation or government , of course, for the better, is through exposing its wrongdoings - which evidently, scandals are more than capable of. Another example could be the demand of Chinese dissendents to move abroad- without the blind activist's Mr. Cheung's fiasco, the world would not have known what goes on within the walls of this forbidden city. To another continent, the mineral-abundant Africa - who would have guessed that the lovely and dazzling tiaras donned by celebrities are infact conflict stones - blood diamonds. Without a scandal involving major diamond companies they plight of civil-war torn African villages would not have seen the light of the day.
The media has a very potent role to play in this respect - they bring out the issues plaguing society through these scandals. Only when information about issues are brought to the doorstep of the discerning public, neatly packaged in the from of scandals do they start actually caring about it. Nobody wants to see a four-hour documentary about poaching in the savannahs- actual photographs of Cheetah skins being imported by bigshot companies converting them to fur will prompt the public to address Animal welfare.
Scandals are indeed important if we want the uninterested common man to think about the problems of the world.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
What catches your attention more - a statistic highlighting the levels of corruption over the past five decades or a sting operation featuring one of the most well-respected ministers of the country taking bribes to direct public funds away from their destined purpose?
Scandals - be it political or otherwise, are scandalous -they attract public attention and shed light on problems that the public would otherwise be indifferent to.
One could argue that all the scandals that the citizens effectively care about are the juicy tid-bits that one might read on page three. These are primarily concerned with 'private' lives of celebrities and are as germane to the nation's and world's problems as the celebrities themselves. Look at the flip side of the coin - if the intelligent denizens of a city have the predilection to read such pieces of trivia, what would their reaction be if they are presented with scandals which indeed concern the problems of the common man -it would be far from ignorance, I can assure you that. The gossip part of scandals is indeed what appeals to the readers who, then, are inadvertently engrossed and may , in fact, start thinking about its possible implications and repercussions. This interest in scandals is what needs to be capitalized.
To provide some evidence, the Indian subcontinen, known the world over for corruption - everbody knew about it for a long but how did it come under the spotlight - 2G spectrum scam, commenwealth games scam - there is an associated scam or scandal with everything the nation organises under the sun. Move to its next-door neighbour, China and the Foxconn scandal - it highlighted the pitiable working conditions that multinational companies like Apple subject its workers to. In fact, the only way disrepute is brought to any major organisation or government , of course, for the better, is through exposing its wrongdoings - which evidently, scandals are more than capable of. Another example could be the demand of Chinese dissendents to move abroad- without the blind activist's Mr. Cheung's fiasco, the world would not have known what goes on within the walls of this forbidden city. To another continent, the mineral-abundant Africa - who would have guessed that the lovely and dazzling tiaras donned by celebrities are infact conflict stones - blood diamonds. Without a scandal involving major diamond companies they plight of civil-war torn African villages would not have seen the light of the day.
The media has a very potent role to play in this respect - they bring out the issues plaguing society through these scandals. Only when information about issues are brought to the doorstep of the discerning public, neatly packaged in the from of scandals do they start actually caring about it. Nobody wants to see a four-hour documentary about poaching in the savannahs- actual photographs of Cheetah skins being imported by bigshot companies converting them to fur will prompt the public to address Animal welfare.
Scandals are indeed important if we want the uninterested common man to think about the problems of the world.
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