[Opinion] TV and Happiness

A country called the last `Shangri-la` which means `the sun and the moon of the heart.` People who have followed the rules of Lama for the last four centuries. There is no word such as traffic, and ‛gross national happiness` means a lot more than the gross national production. The small Buddhist land in east of the Himalayas has been described in these ways for long time. Then, a high-ranking official working for state-owned trading firm was caught for taking bribes in April last year. A group of thieves dug up the nation`s oldest Buddhist tower and hundreds have become addicted to marijuana, which had been used to feed pigs. How could a country, where people believed killing an insect committed sin, change this much?

"It is because of TV," reported the British Guardian quoting Bhutanese as saying. Bhutan used to be the world`s only country that did without TV. It was in August 1999 when 46 cable channels hit the country. Crimes such as violence, murders, frauds and drug trafficking began to soar with programs sent by media tycoon Rophert Mudock`s Start TV reaching every household in the last Shagri-la. These were not all. One of three young schoolgirls want to become white-skin yellow-hair Americans and one of three young women prefer to have sex than get married. More than 35% of parents want to watch TV rather than talking with children.

When the king allowed his people to watch TV, he did so to make them happy. As the leader of a country that focuses on spirit more than modernization or democracy, he thought that what mattered most is people`s happiness. Believing the gross national happiness is something money can buy, he decided to bring in TV after seeing his football-loving people gather together in front of a large TV screen set up in the playground to watch World Cup games in 1998. He ordered a domestic broadcasting station to be established for education purposes before opening the country to foreign programs. But it was a David vs. Goliath game.

There are a number of studies suggesting the link between TV and violence. Children exposed to TV violence become aggressive people when they grow up, according to studies. Electronic waves continue traveling across borders, spreading American values, living styles and standards of beauty across the world under the name of globalization. And they have successfully polluted the world`s most isolated country, too. It seems that no Bhutanese want the king to ban TV, however. They must be free to choose between unpolluted happiness without TV and poisonous happiness with TV. Next comes teaching people how to watch TV right and setting up regulations.

Kim Sun-deok, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com