Unraveling the meaning behind TEDx: Part II

TED is a non­prof­it devot­ed to spread­ing ideas, usu­al­ly in the form of short, pow­er­ful talks. But what does the acronym TED, and its spin-off TEDx, stand for? We explore the phi­los­o­phy, the mean­ing and the spir­it behind the TED con­fer­ences, one let­ter at a time.

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E is for …

enter­tain­ment noun en·ter·tain·ment \ en-tər-ˈtān-mənt \ : agree­able occu­pa­tion for the mind; some­thing afford­ing plea­sure, diver­sion, or amuse­ment, espe­cial­ly a per­for­mance of some kind

“A window—it’s more enter­tain­ing than TV. Just ask a cat look­ing out, or a man look­ing in on a life he desires.”
―Jar­od Kintz

“Enter­tain­ment is tem­po­rary hap­pi­ness, but the real hap­pi­ness is per­ma­nent enter­tain­ment.”
―Amit Kalantri

“Reg­gae has a phi­los­o­phy, you know? It’s not just enter­tain­ment. There’s an idea behind it, a way of life behind the music, which is a pos­i­tive way of life, which is a pro­gres­sive way of life for bet­ter peo­ple.”
―Zig­gy Mar­ley

We begin with two obser­va­tions that, though per­haps com­mon­place, ought to be kept in mind. First, enter­tain­ment often does more than enter­tain — or, put dif­fer­ent­ly, enter­tain­ment func­tions are often inter­twined with nonen­ter­tain­ment func­tions. Accord­ing to Staiger, chil­dren and teens spent more time at movies dur­ing World War II in part because moth­ers were work­ing, so the­aters became de fac­to day-care cen­ters. Katz and Foulkes sim­i­lar­ly observe that fam­i­lies may watch TV togeth­er in order to bond.

Sec­ond, and regret­tably, “There are few things less enter­tain­ing than try­ing to define mass enter­tain­ment.”
[source: Stephen Bates and Antho­ny J. Fer­ri, “What’s Enter­tain­ment?”]

TED talks are noth­ing if not enter­tain­ing. See for your­self at TEDxSalem: Tick­ets are avail­able for $50 for gen­er­al admis­sion and $40 for stu­dents at https://tedxsalem2015.eventbrite.com. One tick­et includes a full day of talks, enter­tain­ment, recess activ­i­ties, swag, snacks, lunch and an after-par­ty.