It’s a peaceful weekday morning and you are either procrastinating doing your homework. With nothing to do, you find yourself drawn toward the comfort of the couch in front of the TV. You take your seat, find a good pillow, get yourself nice and comfy and get ready to aimlessly flip through the channels.
As you flip through the channels you are inundated with commercials for cars, cosmetics, restaurants, foods, banks, and everything else you can dream of finding in the annals of the well that is the commercial sector. If you’re lucky you happen upon a snippet of actual TV. You’ll find parts of cartoons that remind you of your childhood. Sometimes you come across an old movie that you think you might have liked a long time ago. If you are astute, you might flip to a news channel and catch up on what’s going on in the world.
If you keep on surfing, however, you are bound to find yourself confronted by the demons of horrendous TV which few manage to escape. A place where the domestic disputes between trashy men and women are celebrated and the housewives of every city in America are in a constant catfight for pride that rivals the tension found between the gangs of LA, a place where Bridezillas torment the lives of everyone around them in an effort to establish their dominance as Queen of the Universe.
This dark world of “reality” television has been poisoning the minds of our youth for far too long. On MTV, a network that is supposedly about music, there is a show called 16 And Pregnant. The first time I heard the name of the show, I knew that nothing good would ever be seen.
As I do before everything I write, I did some research which in this case was to actually subject myself to the show and confirm my original thoughts. Making it through the whole episode took more will power than I had myself. I actually had to go and find Dr. Ludovico and ask him for the machine that he used to cure Alex of his violent tendencies just so I could make it through.
Watching teen pregnancy and irresponsibility being celebrated instead of reprimanded is infuriating to think about. Having a child is no light matter and the show completely fails to represent that. When TV makes it look so easy to have a child while still in high school, it’s no surprise that the United States has a higher rate of teen pregnancy than any other developed nation in the world.
Despicable attitudes and poor world outlooks also have found a footing in “real” TV. Shows that seem to be about cakes actually focus on the drama between the chefs and a show about wedding dresses is actually subjugating us to the horrible people trying on the dresses. While watching Say Yes to the Dress, I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe some silly garbage about what it’s like to make wedding dresses and dealing with girls getting married. Instead, I realized that it was all about shallow divas not getting along with their moms.
I believe that weddings are about getting to be with the person you love for the rest of your life. Turns out I was wrong. These girls know that if they don’t get the perfect dress, their whole wedding will be ruined, despite the fact that the person they want to spend the rest of their life with is patiently waiting for them no matter what they wear. What a pitiful sentiment to broadcast to women everywhere.
The more I watch the more crap I see. TLC, MTV, TruTV have been beaten to death years ago and networks like the History Channel, Discovery, and the SyFy channel are in a quick spiral toward the ground. Why don’t we stop watching these terrible shows and reclaim the glory that our American Culture is entitled to?
