things are more like they are now than they ever were before--former U.S. president eisenhower
honestly, what has the world come to? the whole reality tv craze is scary enough because we all sit and talk about how dumb it is and you don't understand how stupid people could possibly get sucked into it... and yet we find ourselves getting hooked on the latest show that has hookers living on a desert island with their husbands who are voting off the midgets that are vying for the spot in some crazy polygamous hookup... or something like that... i have to admit, i have sat down weekly to watch some of the reality tv shows and i'm not really sure what to think of myself
what is it about watching other people struggle through not quite true to life situations and air out all their dirty laundry and mental psychoses on television that is so fascinating to the rest of us? do we not have enough going on out here in our own lives? or are we just so obsessed with the link between television and fame that we are scared to be left out at the water cooler when everyone is discussing the latest hottub frolic exhibited on the real world the night before? even better are those loverly shows like the surreal life where we get to watch those who have fallen out of the proverbial limelight into ridiculous (and clearly too private for them) existences and are willing to air their lives on primetime to just get another nibble at their 15 min.
after watching it tonite i actually think this will be better than the first season (yes i'm admitting up front that i revel in others' misery and general embarassment in front of millions of viewers)... sometimes watching these people (like traci bingham bitching about the bathtub being raspberry... like yuck!) makes you wonder what color bathtub you would just refuse to bathe in... i think it would be lemon yellow for me. actually if you think about it all the people on the show remind me of those big caricatures you get done at the mall or fair... you've got the religious zealot, the super smiley nice guy who just wants everyone to get along, the tattooed psycho in serious need of anger management, the small town girl who wants to party (and party and party), the pampered uber bitchy diva, and the gentleman porn star.... okay, the last one is a little weird, but i think porn stars probably always are. they are all so ridiculous and over the top you begin to wonder what really is normal anymore... because obviously i'm not it...
so anyways, you begin to wonder where in this crazy mixed up world you really fit into things. clearly things are not what they seem on tv and those people are not living normal lives (despite what those clever television producers would like us to believe) but what really is normal anymore? two seconds delving around in my head tell me that is not the place to find out. comparatively speaking, i guess normal is really a subjective matter because i could ask 100 people and get a variety of answers (including 'who the hell are you? leave me alone') but maybe it is the kind of thing you have to decide for yourself. not being one to worry too much about what people think of me i guess i should stop looking to others to normalize my own behavior. and that includes those wacky people on television.
i guess watching isn't a bad thing as long as you understand why you are doing it. and now i feel like some exec somewhere is rubbing their hands together going 'yeeeesss... we have the angry, disillusioned young adults of the world watching our shows so that they can bitch about them later... mwah ha ha ha ha ha'
