First, a few updates from WIDLM of the past. My second(?) WIDLM was about WordPress itself and my poor experience with it’s CSS on my monitor. I’m pretty sure that it had fixed that main issue I had with it by the time I posted the next week. I regret that I forgot to mention it until now. Anyway, that’s fixed now. Regarding last weeks WIDLM, I have found an acceptable solution. I have added the shortest “tail” to my cursor with the trailing cursor options available in Windows. I can’t even notice the tail most of the time, and it fixes the glitch. So yay for that. On to the hate.
The inspiration for this WIDLM comes from Pat’s bachelor party, during which one party member went on a somewhat lengthy rant about his distaste for Whale Wars. I don’t think I’ve actually seen Whale Wars, except in parody on Southpark, but I doubt I would enjoy it much. I hate reality TV in all it’s forms… unless you count Mythbusters, which I don’t, but someone somewhere did, so I mention it.
I haven’t watched very much, but that is because they so quickly nauseate me. Oh, I hate them so, let me count a few of the ways.
1) They are not in any way real. It’s edited, prompted, researched, pain-stakingly manipulate in every way. I know everyone knows this, but I dunno how much they know. The people are screened from thousands of candidates by psychologists to make a mixture that will be entertaining on TV, assuming it’s not one of those “celebrity” versions, in which case they’re all trained entertainers anyway. Then the “contestants” or whatever are asked pointed questions and coached on how to respond. Then the answers are edited and deleted to the hearts contents of the soulless producers. Romances are suggested, lies are told, votes are forged, nothing is genuine even slightly. They pull leaves off of trees and spray paint the ground to make it look like time has passed when it hasn’t. Soooooooooo… lame.
2) They pretend to be real. It’s fine to be fake, that’s what TV is, but don’t act like you’re something you’re not. Well, that’s sorta what TV is, too, but, ya know what I mean. Normal TV asks you to willingly suspend your disbelief together with the actors and show creators for fun and frivolity, possibly education and emotional exploration. Reality TV asks you to suspend your disbelief in order that you accept what they shovel at you as true, because if you didn’t, you’d think it was really, really boring TV. Disgusting.
3) It’s bad TV. They’re not even good at what they claim to be good at. Well, I dunno, I’m sure they’re doing the best they can with what they have, but compared to traditional TV production methods, the entertainment value is very, very low. Jokes suck, plot sucks, characters suck, concepts suck, sets suck, everything about the shows suck. Their only appeal is to people who let themselves believe it’s somehow true-ish… which I can’t do, and I think is a mistake.
4) It is irredeemably corrupt. Nothing good can come to society from such a dishonest and manipulative venture. It is like advertising between the advertisements. Even the “positive” reality TV, where they build a house for a poor person, or whatever, is so shallow, disingenuous, and false, that it doesn’t make up for it. They would bulldoze the house as soon as build it, if they thought that would bring in a more lucrative demographic. Instead of spending 1% of the budget on a ridiculous mansion for a few families and 99% on marketing and cameras, they could just build enough homes for the entire countries homeless population. But what would be the fun in that? The corruption will spill into the rest of society as well. A segment of the population will always feel cheated that they aren’t famous just for being their ridiculous self. They’ve been making loud, public, poor decisions their whole lives, and never got anything. How can it be? Think of all the talented people who aren’t acting or writing but are forced to sell their souls and work on the manipulative drivel in order to get a job in TV. Or are waiters… or lawyers. It’s just sad.
In conclusion, only you can prevent reality TV. Stop watching any you find, write your congressmen, and if you’re ever face to face with someone involved, make sure to punch them really hard before and after you explain that you’re doing it so they’ll quit making that crap.