Culture of Talk Shows

Thanks for your responses! It keeps me going continuously! Writing is something I have wanted to do but never really felt the right time to start, well as said, everything happens at a certain point in time!

Coming to talk shows, we all have perhaps seen the plethora of forms of talk shows these days. Right from celebrities to entrepreneurs and even these days even exam-toppers! Formerly it was more common on Television on news channels or other media channels as may be. Nowadays we also get to witness these on YouTube. Well, there is nothing wrong with these talk shows rather the emphasis lays down more on over-hyping being done over the greatness of the person being interviewed. There’s no matter of dispute as to these shows being scripted to a great extent. It may be denied by whosoever you want, but later on, as you would observe that person’s behavior he/she wouldn’t probably be so as claimed in the talk show.

Now coming to the point of discussion. Why is this even supposed to be a point of discussion? Many of us listen to these to probably get an insight into their lives and maybe try and adapt to it? I guess most of you would agree with me on this. Well, spot on! That’s where all the trouble begins.

And why there is a troubling element involved? (Accept this as a probability among the range of probabilities)

• You are not getting an authentic answer from that person. It is probably something they are asked to talk about. In fact in a lot of ‘interviews’, the views presented by them would not be the ones that they endorse personally.
• The answers, be it the intonation and the posture/gesture with which it will be communicated are mostly scripted.
• There’s a huge element of over-hyping/over-rating certain aspects just to keep up to standards. In simple terms, if you are supposed to get only ‘x’ benefit from some commodity, but as you are in a competitive market and faced with a threat of losing your market share, what will you do? Keep propagating ‘You will get ‘x’ raised to 100 benefits if you consume this product.’
• On many occasions, non-veterans would perhaps have to do multiple takes to get the right posturing/ gesturing.
• Maybe also consider, whatever claims are being made are they ever substantiated in reality? For example, we have people on social media who claim to have been following some specific routine or particular lifestyle and getting innumerable benefits. Has anyone ever seen to what extent and how often it is done? Is there a possibility all this has just been made up to overhype and get views?

How is it harmful to us? Major reasons:

• We tend to get highly influenced.

Believe it or not, you are consuming the content, maybe just for the heck of it and not very sincerely listening to it with true spirit. What we often ignore is the subconscious impact it lays on us. We tend to start evaluating ourselves unwarranted. For example, if you would see your favourite actor/YouTuber doing certain things you tend to enact that into your life.

• Setting unrealistic expectations on ourselves

With the constant consumption of this content, we are getting conditioned to constantly judge ourselves and ‘compare’. “Oh well look at these people! How idealistic are their lives and look at mine! I am still stuck in the same place with no direction” As you read this, just ask yourself “Do I feel so?”

What we need to understand in this is that there is a need to keep this feeling to be generated amongst the audience, or else how will the ‘aspirational’ element of marketing be done! All in all, these activities would fall under the umbrella of marketing. Well, that’s another topic of discussion as to how marketing has lost all of its essences these days and we can witness it being done for even harmful products! There is nothing wrong in selling products by enticing them to purchase it, rather the matter of emphasis is people being conditioned to believe the benefits received from it to be true, hence, coercing them to consume.

Now coming towards academic exams, these days we witness various coaching faculties/forums inviting top rankers, putting a garland around their neck and constantly stating that “Oh you are very smart” in fact in one such show, I had seen the professor say “We have full confidence you will again get rank in next level of CA as well and make ‘OUR brand’ famous” Like it’s always said, there is nothing wrong with business rather unethical practice of business to be considered.

An example very close to me, it so happened that my friend had got 60+ in the subjects Audit and Law in CA Final. We both decided to go to a particular coaching faculty’s test series and prepare together. She had only opted for theory subjects whereas I had opted for all the subjects. Few tests pass by and she found the quality of checking to be pathetic! You won’t believe even after this, the coaching team calls us to give feedback on the checking. My friend narrated it clear that she was extremely dissatisfied with the checking and that it needs to be worked upon. Like any sales representative, they agreed to look into the matter.

BUT, if the matter gets over this easily, it wouldn’t have been a matter of discussion! After the results what do we get to see?

♦ She was asked to record a video stating all the “benefits” of giving the classes’ test series and “the high quality of checking being done”

(Yes! with that very sober and sweet smiling face of every topper has in such videos)

Now, what do we understand? Consider the following scenarios

• Is it ‘morally/ethically right’ in the light of marketing? (OR)
• Is it clear falsification/misrepresentation of ‘facts’? (OR)
• Is it done to blur the reality and make students believe it to be true?

On top of that, every ranker who we see giving interviews on “tips and tricks/strategies” more or less has the same message to be conveyed. I have binge-watched these videos in a bid to understand what will I have to do to get a rank? But each person kept coming with the same narrative!

And the very fact each interview has a person with a set of questions ready to be asked which is asked time and again only to different faces. When do you see these cogent people with such calm and resonating personalities talk what crosses your mind, in a split-second a thought brushing your mind “When will I ever be able to be like him/her in my life?” or a sense of inferiority? 

Another viewpoint, is it possible for ‘all the rankers’ to be with such personality always? Something’s not correct, right?

On a final note, as I have always stated, I have nothing personal against anyone! It is a perspective to be shared to make people aware to some extent and I touched upon academics since it is the need of the hour! Time and again we see so many students giving up their life merely due to performance pressure from parents/teachers and for that matter even coaching classes these days. It’s simple, we need to understand/sense in what there is the business and what is genuine!

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a new perspective! Have a nice day!

I can be reached at – abhishekpanegal4@gmail.com