I want to do something. I want to create great content for sikhs by sikhs. But feel that this is pointless.
I can hardly call myself a sikh. I don't speak punjabi and I know nothing about my history. But I want to learn. As I'm sure a lot of others do. The problem is how you learn. The range of multimedia out there is outstanding. While others embrace this, us sikhs are held back back by older generations, who say 'you can't show gurus, no one can voice a guru', etc etc. Books are the only common medium to read about the gurus. There are no richly creative programmes about them because of fear of a backlash.
Creating content that is light-hearted and not overly serious may be seen as offensive. Well maybe people want to see a more approachable side to the gurus. There is this air of mystery concerning the gurus, (the way you can't show them), that immediately, that is stopping the younger audience from engaging with their teachings.
Why would a 5-year-old sikh want to watch a narration of a story that doesn't show gurus when they can watch ben 10 turn into an alien and save the world?
The answer is, he wouldn't. It characters like Ben 10 and spiderman that become the heros of todays young generation of sikhs. Not only do they SEE there heros slay the bad guys, they can be them. It is perfectly acceptable for a little boy or girl to dress up as there favourite cartoon character. KIds are empowered by todays cartoon content. With 24 hour stations such as Cartoon network and nickelodeon, Sikh programming won't get a look in.
Children in general want to be like their heroes. Unfortunately, even if there heroes were the gurus, I'm sure someone would have something to say about them wanting to be like them. Heaven forbid should sikh children want to be dress up and act like the gurus, acting like decent human beings.
Surely, the purpose of the sikh channels should be to educate? They should be doing more to produce this kind of content.
Do we really need three sikh channels airing similar content? The way they are all running at the moment, free-to-air and asking for money is not sustainable.
I've never ran my own TV station, but even I could do a better job.
A question for the channels in question, Sangat, sikh channel and sikh TV,who are your audience? Saying just sikhs is the wrong answer. What age? If all ages, are you providing content for all ages? I switch and flick through the channels and usually find the shows featuring old men.
EDUCATE, not lecture.
I find that a lot of the shows come across as 'brainwashing'. I know its not intentional, but thats how I personally feel about them.
The current programmes look poorly produced. A level of professionalism is needed! We are sikhs. We are talented people. Show it! Prove it! I cannot and will not accept that the quality of the programming that is out there, is the best that we can do. It gives a bad impression, that we don't care. That we don't care about the quality of the programmes for the viewers.It's just old people talking to old people. Old folks are just grateful to have something punjabi on the telly and won't question the quality of the programming.
Sikhs shouldn't have to settle for second best. Why is it that Hindus have a level of sophistication in multimedia that sikhs don't appear to have.
There MUST be reasons as to why such creative content isn't produced.
NO MONEY. NO INVESTMENT. Why is it that when it comes to things like religious programmes, people aren't comfortable with them making money? If merchandise was produced, and a programme was sold correctly, there would be money to ensure the longevity of such programming that would improve in quality for the viewers enjoyment. The result would be permanent jobs with decent wages.
FEAR.
It is the extremism in the sikh community that stops people from speaking out and moving forward. Things that are accidentally taken out of context usually result in death threats. There maybe a backlash. Everything that is so unsikh-like appears and is often excused as passion for sikhism. violence is violence. Bullying is bullying. There's no way of justifying that.
People are afraid to stand up for what they believe in because of this.
Anyone else agree or disagree?
