And one main culprit is the reality series, that pits people against each other - to marry a millionaire, to survive in some wilderness, to live in a house under surveillance, whatever, and it's all these people who have accomplished nothing in their lives suddenly getting the fame and fortune of being on TV.
Why are there never any uplifting shows? Kids trying to become top chess, scrabble or math champion? Well, those folks don't have moms who will yell and scream and fight each other to make sure there 4 year old girl becomes a beauty queen pageant winner.
Whose to blame, the audience that will never watch 8 weeks of spelling bee contestants preparing for the big day, but will watch a bunch of women screaming and fighting each other (as happened once on Repo Wars. Not that I ever watch the trash, but you can't watch TV and not see commercials for this crap.)
This type of stuff desensitizes people who already are not very senstive to begin with...
RUSH: "The recent apparent suicide of a 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star’s husband is raising questions about the dangers of the instant fame and notoriety of reality television stars. News broke Tuesday that 'Real Housewife' Taylor Armstrong’s estranged husband, investment banker and venture capitalist Russell Armstrong, was found dead in a friend's Mulholland Drive mansion, in what was believed to be a suicide. The Bravo network, which airs the show, immediately issued a statement offering their condolences. 'All of us at Bravo are deeply saddened by this tragic news,'" and we're really sad we don't have video of it. They didn't say that. "'Our sympathy and thoughts are with the Armstrong family at this difficult time.'"
Jeffrey Schwartz, MD, author of You Are Not Your Brain says, "Reality TV can be very dangerous. It's not an issue of media training, it's an issue of not having adequate education and support to deal with the high potential for feelings of shame when being exposed to the media spotlight." Boy, amen to that. I've read, somebody is reporting that he told them that right before he apparently committed suicide he thought the storyline was that he and his wife were gonna get creamed this season in the reality series.
I've been warning about this, all this craving for fame that people have, vomiting every bit of personal information they have about each other so they get on television. Have you watched any of these Real Housewife shows, have you ever seen one? I haven't either, but I read voluminously and omnivorously, and what I read about these shows and the people in 'em, it's basic. Anyway, "In the weeks leading up to his death, Armstrong had indeed become the subject of tabloid fodder, which his lawyer claims led to his emotional troubles. Last month, Taylor filed for divorce, accusing her former husband of physical abuse. His alleged 'violent past' was also revealed by Radar Online two weeks ago." Here's this guy running along, living his life, somehow his wife ends up on this show and everything about him ends up being in all the gossip pages.
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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.
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