Luke de Castro Assignment 5

Television entertains the masses and academia educates them. Both are important in any society, and each holds an award ceremony to celebrate their successes. The difference between their popularities results from their different purposes. Because people rarely follow the physicists, authors, economists and others, the Nobel Prize doesn’t receive the same level of attention as the TV shows that play in everyone’s home. The Nobel Laureates motivation is not entertainment, so naturally, people aren’t entertained.

The Nobel Prizes and their winners resonate less with the average person than the winner of the best TV show. People watch TV, but they don’t follow scholars. TV is designed to entertain and entice its audience, while scholars try to advance society and human knowledge. Although these scholars affect people’s lives more, people prefer to spend their time watching TV.  Audiences’ fixation on the Emmy’s and not the Nobel Prize should not disappoint anyone about the present state of our society. The prestigious nature of the Nobel Prize remains unaffected by its small audience because its purpose is not to entertain and attract. The moment the Nobel Prizes start catering to viewership is the moment we need to worry, for they should continue to award accomplished individuals and not be concerned with celebrity.