Small Country Considering Banning WWE Shows

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/s...sp?story=532650

 

Bhutan grapples with influence of TV wrestling violence

By Justin Huggler in Delhi

18 June 2004

 

 

Television only came to the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan five years ago. Until then it was banned, for fear of the corrupting influence it might have on the country's Buddhist way of life.

 

Now, after five years of unrestricted viewing, the influence of the small screen on a country that has been described as the "last Shangri La" has its leaders worried - especially by American wrestling. The choreographed fighting of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is being blamed for rising violence and plans are being considered to stop it being shown.

 

Television and the internet were allowed for the first time in 1999, to mark King Jigme Singye Wangchuk's silver jubilee. The decision was taken after thousands filled the main square of the capital, Thimphu, to watch a special showing of the 1998 World Cup final in France on a giant screen.

 

In those early days the only broadcaster allowed was the BBS - the Bhutan Broadcasting Service, a national service. But after six months, global broadcasts were allowed and that, according to Bhutanese interviewed for a BBC programme called TV Invasion , is where the trouble started.

 

Bhutan lies among the wild peaks of the Himalayas, wedged between China and India. Most of the country is without paved roads. Even where there are good roads, the terrain is so untamed it can take two hours to travel 40 miles. About 70 per cent of Bhutan's 800,000 people still live without electricity.

 

The country only opened up to foreign tourism in 1974 and since then travellers have brought home stories of an unspoilt landscape of 24,000ft peaks and a traditional way of life.

 

So the arrival of international television came as something of a shock to many. When WWE wrestling was first shown in Bhutan, it perplexed the people, who did not know that the violence depicted was carefully staged. The country's only newspaper received several letters from Bhutanese children asking why men were beating each other up.

 

And now there are reports of increasing violence in Bhutan's schools, with children copying wrestling moves they see on television.

 

But many are sceptical about the influence of television on previously isolated communities. A study in St Helena, which only allowed television nine years ago, found no link between television violence and children's behaviour.

 

Dorji Ahm, a Bhutanese youth worker who spoke to the BBC, was dismissive of wrestling's influence. "The violent channels are CNN and the BBC," she said. "There, you know this is not a movie, this is reality."

 

But there are also fears that Bhutan's traditional culture is being eroded. "Young people are now much more in tune with what is happening around the world," Shockshan Peck, who has studied the influence of television in her country, told the BBC. "The more we learn about the world the more we lose our own culture."

 

Bhutan is the last survivor of the independent Buddhist states of the Himalayas. Tibet is under Chinese occupation, while Sikkim has been annexed by India.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I hardly think WWE would give a crap about a country that's only had TV For 5 years. Hell, he (Vince) barely cares what AMERICAN FANS THINK!

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

WWE is a person now?

 

Amusing read. If noones gonna bother to educate them, lose their culture or not, then shut the shit up. Noone's gonna care.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I eagerly await how Vince will make fun of the Bhutan people.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Well shit, there goes all the money from that long Bhutan tour that was supposed to draw huge.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

WWE is a person now?

 

Amusing read. If noones gonna bother to educate them, lose their culture or not, then shut the shit up. Noone's gonna care.

HAHAHA! Very funny...I caught I only said he already and edited while you were trying to make a joke.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

No big loss.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I'm glad to see this happen. "Backwards" or no, it's important to maintain such cultures in the world. They act as something of a human wildlife preserve, or a time capsule, showing how the most pure iterations of Buddhist life are executed.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Preserving at least one culture is good, but how funny would it be to see professional wrestling touted as "The bane of the Bhutan culture"?

[Art Sandusky 0]

It wouldn't be. Stop posting.

[muzz 0]

Hang in there, Bhutan.

 

You weren't missing anything before.

[Guest CronoT]

It's called culture shock. I say either get used to it, or stick your heads back under your collective rocks.

 

This is the same, asinine, circular thinking that people were trying to use to justify banning the power rangers about 4 or 5 years ago.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The functional difference between this and the Power Rangers instance is that we're a country firmly entrenched in "civilization," and trying to prevent forward progress in the Western world is like trying to stop a flood that we started ourselves with a single bricked dam. Bhutan, until very recently, had NO real consistent contact with the outside world other than tourists. There, this is a preservation of the status quo. Here, it would be going backwards.

[muzz 0]

I wanted the ban them simply because they were terrible.

[Guest Trivia247]

well here comes the Bhutan Gimmick, that perhaps Tiger Ali Singhe or his deported lil buddy could play only to get squashed and jobbed by both male and female wrestlers as well as the refs as well.

[King Cucaracha 0]

A Bhutan who fears technology would make an awesome gimmick. Like, he'd cower in fear if he ever caught sight of the Titantron during his match. He could call microphones 'magic sticks'. They could have him on the Highlight Reel, and when he sees the Jeri-Tron he collapse into the fetal position.

 

It's gold.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Or Not.

[caboose 0]

Fair play to Bhutan, at least they are maintaining their beliefs as opposed to flushing them down the toilet like most of the Western World.

[The Mandarin 0]

Oh, great, now how will I get my WWE shows?

[Guest Jimbo]

$20 says the country of Bhutan exists in the land of make-believe.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

$20 says the country of Bhutan exists in the land of make-believe.

http://www.kingdomofbhutan.com/

[Guest Trivia247]

Ok they never had tv till five years ago but they are online hmm

[Guest AndrewisyourHero]

Ok they never had tv till five years ago but they are online hmm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan

 

Need any more proof?

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Ok they never had tv till five years ago but they are online hmm

can you be dumber?

[The Czech Republic 0]

Ok they never had tv till five years ago but they are online hmm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan

 

Need any more proof?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu

 

Holy crap! Japan used to be populated by white people! There's something you don't see every day.