Obsessed as a culture,
Three hundred channels of voyeurism,
Crack to the masses for which there is no cure.
Our appetites are voracious,
The more they feed us
The more we swallow.
We are being dumbed down,
All in the name of entertainment.
Fifteen minutes of fame,
No talent required,
We buy into this formula.
Commonsense is on the decline,
We are no longer educationally superior,
Our kids instead strive to top the antics of “Jack Ass”
And long to live in the “Big Brother” house,
High aspirations indeed.
This is our future.
We welcome it with open arms
And our junk food appetites.
I guess we get what we deserve.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 
This is why I try to avoid reality TV. Though, I’m not sure what nature shows like River Monsters would count as.
That is a show that my daughters and I happen to love. I think that it would fall more along the lines of a nature documentary than a true reality show. Jeremy tries to prove or disprove myths and events by catching and releasing the the presumed culprits. In most cases he tries to have them viewed in a more positive light than what they started out as. There are a number of other shows, that I view as more documentary than “reality” programs as there is knowledge to be gained from them. In other words, their goal is not to be cruel to others, promote promiscuity, break someone down into tears or humiliate another human being all for some kind of prize. To me there is a difference.
I guess anything science and nature based falls into education like Mythbusters and anything that involves history. I know very little about the other types of reality shows except that they aren’t really real.
I guess the ones that I was thinking about are a few of the shows about the paranormal which I wholeheartedly believe in. Although I suppose that they would only fall into the nature / science category if you believe that the supernatural is real. Like I said there are exceptions to every rule, but shows like Big Brother, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette (I think that’s what it is called) and Toddlers and Tiaras (my daughters love this one, but to me it is nothing but parents exploiting their children) are pure garbage which brings out the worst in people.
That ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ show is frightening.
It certainly is. Ugh!
This is all so unfortunately true! An excellent summing up of all that’s wrong and how we embrace it!
Thank you Shelby. Reality TV has taken over the air waves and for the most part (I suppose there are exceptions) it has little to no redeeming value. The fact that we give these shows attention gives the networks a pass to shove more of this garbage down our throats. I just happen to find the trend unsettling and unfortunately don’t see any end to it. Of course this is just one persons opinion, but I’m fairly certain that I am not alone.
I hate Big Brother.
I can’t even bring myself to watch it. And worse yet is that I can’t believe it’s even considered entertainment.
We’re all doomed!!!
Oh I certainly hope not, but I think the western world is heading down the wrong path and we are simply letting it happen to us.
… not exactly a rosy future, huh? Even worse, attention spans are shrinking at a worrying rate – what you heard last is the “truth”.
Sadly you are right, it is getting to a point where we don’t know what the truth is anymore. It really comes down to who screams the loudest.