Thursday, May 26, 2005
Which is worse?
Prior to the afternoon's rainfall (it was a good one today. I got good and soaked), I roamed the grounds of the farm with my trusty WHACKER, delighting in the new cords I'd installed and the rapidity with which the errant foliage was bowing before me. Meanwhile, minute amounts of my blood were making their way from my body to the flying pests we tend to call mosquitoes. In the midst of swatting, a thought dawned on me as I turned my attention back to the whirling cords which made their way perilously close to a blossiming coffee tree. Which is a bigger bane to my existence, mosquitoes or reality tv?
A list began to compile in my brain, and I had to specify the type of reality tv I was going to use in my comparison. While American Idol, Survivor, and the Bachelor(ette) series could not be relegated into obscurity fast enough for me, I decided to focus more on shows like Temptation Island (which I don't think has been repeated for a while?), the Swan and the Make Me Look Like a Celebrity/My Parents are Complete Imbiciles for Going Along with This Insanity.
Here's what I came up with (actually, I bored of the game rather quickly. Mutilating weeds was a lot more fun than thinking about these shows):
Mosquitoes suck your blood
Reality tv sucks your intelligence
M's can be killed easily without retribution
RTV won't seem to die, and an assassination attempts would be met with police action/lynching
Ms can cause malaria, dengue fever, and other assorted illnesses
RTV causes brain/self-esteem atrophy
M bites itch for a short time (usually), and then fade away and are forgotten
RTV won't die!! Make it stop!
To me, many of these reality tv shows are a way to live vicariously through someone else. To let someone else take a chance that seems to risky in the 'real world' (because let's be honest. How many reality shows are that real? The 'Real World'? Yeah right) has become the new craze and helps to maintain docility in the masses.
I would like someone to give me a reason that reality tv is good. What positive benefit does it provide to us, aside from 30-60 minutes of brain-free time? The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, even car shows provide information and attempt to stimulate brain activity. What does American Idol do? It provides us a chance to get out and VOTE and make a difference (if only our governmental elections held such appeal. I doubt the draw/participation is at the same level. Maybe it is, but I doubt it.); it allows us to take part in another popularity contest.
Most fads die out pretty quickly. Why has this one (the RTV, not mosquitoes.) not followed The Courtship of Eddie's Father into the place that time forgot?
A list began to compile in my brain, and I had to specify the type of reality tv I was going to use in my comparison. While American Idol, Survivor, and the Bachelor(ette) series could not be relegated into obscurity fast enough for me, I decided to focus more on shows like Temptation Island (which I don't think has been repeated for a while?), the Swan and the Make Me Look Like a Celebrity/My Parents are Complete Imbiciles for Going Along with This Insanity.
Here's what I came up with (actually, I bored of the game rather quickly. Mutilating weeds was a lot more fun than thinking about these shows):
Mosquitoes suck your blood
Reality tv sucks your intelligence
M's can be killed easily without retribution
RTV won't seem to die, and an assassination attempts would be met with police action/lynching
Ms can cause malaria, dengue fever, and other assorted illnesses
RTV causes brain/self-esteem atrophy
M bites itch for a short time (usually), and then fade away and are forgotten
RTV won't die!! Make it stop!
To me, many of these reality tv shows are a way to live vicariously through someone else. To let someone else take a chance that seems to risky in the 'real world' (because let's be honest. How many reality shows are that real? The 'Real World'? Yeah right) has become the new craze and helps to maintain docility in the masses.
I would like someone to give me a reason that reality tv is good. What positive benefit does it provide to us, aside from 30-60 minutes of brain-free time? The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, even car shows provide information and attempt to stimulate brain activity. What does American Idol do? It provides us a chance to get out and VOTE and make a difference (if only our governmental elections held such appeal. I doubt the draw/participation is at the same level. Maybe it is, but I doubt it.); it allows us to take part in another popularity contest.
Most fads die out pretty quickly. Why has this one (the RTV, not mosquitoes.) not followed The Courtship of Eddie's Father into the place that time forgot?
Comments:
Post a Comment
