Turn the Goddamn Thing Off

This has been said elsewhere and better, I am sure, but there is no such thing as "reality TV."

TV is a communication vehicle for certain essential lies.  The two main sorts of lies it transmits are economic and personal.  TV depicts people who are not just consumed with consumption, they are defined by what they consume.  It creates an identity between purchasing things and living.  Watch enough TV and you will, too - which is why it is there.

The personal lies that TV tells are about status and security, and norms of behavior.  The TV world is one in which people are always setting and enforcing norms of obedience and respectability.  Even the antiheroes have to conform to the mold.  An obedient, respectable audience is easy to control. TV breeds Republicans.  TV breeds sheep.  TV is unamerican.

Reality is anathema to TV because life trumps commerce.  Commerce serves life, not the other way around; commerce is almost irrelevant to life.  Only the smallest, meanest minds think money and possessions are the most important thing in life.  Reality is anathema to TV because we're all different and the actual norm we should be living up to is thinking for ourselves.   

People who watch TV all the time are more pathetic and disgusting than crack addicts.  I've lived with both and prefer the crackheads.  Turn the TV off and take the fucking pipe out of your mouth.

Comments

[Josh]

I'm not gonna lie - I smoke from that pipe. But I agree that there is nothing the slightest bit real about reality television if only because of the quantum concept of observation changing behavior. There is no way anyone can live a "real" life with cameras constantly in their face.

There are some wonderfully subversive shows out there that do not encourage Republicanism however. See Six Feet Under, (old) Simpsons, TDS & Colbert, and enlightening programming like Sundance's recent TransGeneration.

[Michele Grant]

But the Seahawks are playing the Eagles on Monday night.

[orange magritte]

but...but.. the food network? and Hockey Night in Canada? (no, in actuality, i agree with you. we only ever watch one thing ever, and that's manchester united playing.)

[puneet]

Hi i totally agree with you just not so extremely..especially about reality television..it's the most pathetic thing that is on tv and waste of time. reality television is for someone who has no life of their own and wants to see others earning money off of us juz bc we tune into it...it's pathetic...

..but i agree wit josh and others there are some good shows and which are entertaining..but it's just that you have to learn to not take everything on tv to such an extent that those things are wat ur own life is based upon and influenced by...they show life as "perfect" and even their conflicts as somewat very "perfect"..if u get wat i mean...but it's juz for entertainment..and u have to control urselves...yes great blog..is it alrite if i use it one of my own blogs but also linking to u ur blog?

[m&m]

give me stephen colbert or give me death. but if not for stephen colbert, you can give me death, cause there's nothin else on, lol.

i read some piece on the fallout of the simpson-lachey dynasty (i don't know why!) the writer alluded to the all powerful TV Reality Show as the source of their relationship's strength. Sampson's long blonde hair, if you will... :p The 2 of them just couldn't hack it when people stopped watching their antics.

[dryle]

i found this post a little late, but decided to comment anyways, because i have been thinking about this subject a lot recently.

first, thank you so much for voicing your thoughts on television here. it is a voice which needs to be heard, which needs a chorus of contemporaries. keep up the good work here.

second, "There are some wonderfully subversive shows out there that do not encourage Republicanism however." ahh, but isn't a passive democrat almost as helpful as an active republican?