Un-reality

  OK Folks, my rant for this week is about reality. Yes, you read correctly...Reality. Reality T.V. and real reality.
   Let's ease into this with a look at reality T.V.
   I hate reality T.V. Specifically, the shows that award cash and prizes. You know the ones. I can't name them for legal reasons but we've all seen them. People prostituting themselves to be herded together on tropical islands or locked away in a house to behave like immature, scheming, bastards, lying and crying on national T.V. for cash and prizes. The bigger the bastards the better the ratings. Expensive advertising budgets spent wagering on moral ineptitude and vacuous personality.
   That is bad enough, but then there are far MORE people that are addicted to these shows. Yep, real reality. People that actually plan their weeks and program their DVR's to keep them up on the latest hi-jinks of these sad people. Perhaps, it is a character flaw of some kind on my part but I just cannot comprehend the desire to watch people behave in this manner. Having raised children, I understand and expect this behavior FROM CHILDREN but I have no desire to watch adults behaving in this manner. I find it disgusting. I don't care how much money is at stake.
   The next batch of reality shows I loathe are the deadliest ones. Should be description enough. My problem with these shows, though, lie solely on the audience. These shows portray men and women doing their best to earn a living doing a thankless and dangerous job. I will admit some people watch these shows admiring the bravery and were withal these people portray but I'm afraid far more people are attracted to them waiting for someone to die. The same reason they watch car races, daredevils, and bog down traffic at an automobile accident, hoping to catch a glimpse of gore.
   Perhaps, the mystery of our own mortality binds us to this morbid fascination as the face of death will eventually be our own. Or perhaps, we have not moved far as a species from the spectacle of death played out in the Roman arenas of antiquity. I just hope we're not backsliding into a more vicious state.