Reality TV or TV Reality?

With the emergence of reality TV has come the exposure of how pitiful people really are. Whether it’s peoples obsessive and generally unattainable pursuit of stardom on American Idol or their increasingly shallow views of the world on any MTV Reality show, the state of our society being reflected in these things indicates we are some pretty pathetic creatures.

The fascinating thing about reality television is that it is just as reflective of its audience as fictional TV is. My girlfriend watches the show Gossip Girl, a program based on a hit series of books about an upper-class community’s drama-plagued and sex-crazed youth population. (SIDE NOTE: I understand it’s just an escape for her as TV/Movies are for many people, but the show is a perfect example of culture unfortunately being displayed in entertainment. And, the show is just a glorified soap opera for teens. The acting is atrocious, and the plotlines….ugh…but anyways…) It is based completely on fiction, so one would think individuals can’t possibly be as manipulative, untrustworthy, selfish and thoroughly immoral in real life as they are portrayed in the show. That assumption was quickly proven false by a girl sitting behind me in my economics class. For the first 15 minutes before the class began, she gossiped about her group of friends—and I use the term very loosely—and I could have sworn I was watching an episode of G.G. with my gf. The lies, the sex, the unfaithfulness, and all the petty bullshit that makes me want to stay inside for good, all in one casual chat between two girls behind me, infiltrating my life, my reality. I wish I was imagining this stuff, I really do, but it’s the sad truth about the time in which we are living.

One show that was also sadly reflective of daily life was one of my favorites, The Wire. The show depicted inner-city Baltimore in every walk of life, from the hood rats, the police force and government, to the harbor life and educational system. The 2 driving forces behind the production of the show had worked in Baltimore in varying, yet always integral, capacities and brought what they saw to what they created on screen, making it so real you could swear it was a documentary on the city. The corruption of the politicians was so complete. The conditions of the schools were so heart-breaking. The police force was so jaded. (I asked my friend who recently joined the force if any TV program he had seen portrayed officers accurately. Without knowing I watched the show, he looked at me and asked, “Ever seen the Wire?...it’s like that.”) The quality of the inner city as a whole and overall mood of the show was so excruciatingly dark that a person would be under the impression that a place like this could not possibly exist. Still, underneath the show’s utter brilliance was the cold hard fact that the world within The Wire mirrored real life.


Acknowledging the incredible parallels between television and the “real world’ is more of a morale-demolisher than it is a revelation. There are still TV shows I enjoy, those that truly embody escapism. I am seeing, however, that the vast majority of programming is to close to a cruel reality I would probably rather not be viewing at all.

Uneducated Consumer, Conspiracy Theorist, or Both

I personally feel I am a relatively uneducated consumer when it comes to the Presidential—or any—Election, and this is in part by my own choice. Candidates push a few points or policies especially hard, creating platforms that put many people on islands. By this I mean that America’s tendency to vote for someone based on certain specific issues often times makes a voter such as myself feel uncomfortable about all possible choices. With the exception of the people who tow a particular party line to their grave, most Americans are actually politically moderate. They hold some views that would be generally considered more Republican, and others that would be more closely associated with the Democratic Party. The problem occurs when one extremely polarizing issue, in this election the War in Iraq, becomes the entire reason that a particular candidate wins over a voter. Yes, the gazillions of dollars that we are pouring into the country is an issue, but not the only one. In past elections, abortion and gay and lesbian rights have been issues that have divided that nation, viciously separating people based on personal moral codes and religious doctrines.

Given the current economic state of our country, the “one issue” subject is an even more erroneous way of thinking about choosing a particular candidate than usual. We are in a state of financial crisis for a multitude of reasons, not because of one individual thing, and the man with the best plan should be the one in office, not the one who can appeal to the majority’s emotional, moral, or religious standpoints. As unoriginal as this idea is, it still is one of the main voting traps that exist.

My other problem with the upcoming election is a personal one that may make me sound crazy. I have developed a tendency to think like a conspiracy theorist in all issues pertaining to our government. In the case of elections, for example, I feel that both parties have underlying reasons to obtain congressional power that the public has no idea about, whether it is for certain individual’s personal gain or some other motive, I have a hard time thinking that I’m not being sold on empty promises from either party, so that an ulterior motive is reached, whatever said motive is. As stated before, I feel like an uneducated consumer, jaded by corrupt politicians—and by things I have seen in my favorite show, The Wire—over the years, and apathetic on my difference-making ability this fall in one of the most significant Presidential elections our country has seen.

Cardboard-Induced Guilt

As Election Day 2008 approaches, I see the world around me change. It’s just a different place when two men are in the midst of a heated race for the right to lead America. During this time, there are many observations I make while going about my daily routine on Temple’s campus. As I am hounded for the 2,346th time by someone asking me if I am registered to vote, I wonder to myself, what’s in it for them if they fill the quota of people they need to register? They do their job with such fervor that I almost feel bad that the entire campus is programmed to just say “yes” with no eye contact and continue walking. As my journey through the recently overpopulated walkway continues, the eyes of the life-sized cardboard cutout of Barack Obama cast a disparaging look my way and I can’t help but feel isolated. Though I am certainly not the only person on Temple’s campus leaning more towards the right politically, at this time of year, it sure feels like that. You see in a largely outspoken liberal population, you better be sufficiently informed and have a booming voice to get an ear, even if you have just a moderate outlook on politics. Associating yourself with the Republican Party in any public forum is similar to claiming allegiance to the Nazi regime. Look, I will obviously admit that our current President leaves a lot to be desired in a Commander-In-Chief, but this fact does not validate the statement “Bush Sucks” as a political ideology. As bad as Lil’ Bush has been, I sometimes feel that there is a large contingent that has little idea what role he played in our country’s current debacle.

I personally would vote for a candidate regardless of party affiliation if I believed he was the best man to run the White House and nation. The problem with the current election is that Bush’s body of work has urinated all over the Republican Party, leaving its stench on any appointed candidate that the Elephants may have run for them. This fact, along with the multi-cultural appeal and youthful exuberance of Obama, has certain portions of Temple’s campus simply buying into the hype, even though they are completely uneducated about he or John McCain’s views on most of the major issues. I feel that if Satan ran on the campaign platform that he was the anti-Bush and he was against the war in Iraq, he would draw every voter that was not thoroughly “right-minded” to begin with.

People say that when you don’t vote you are taking democracy for granted or that you are not using your voice to be heard in government. This sounds so wise and insightful, but it fails to account for the uneducated masses who will flock to the polls. Is it good to have your voice heard if it is a belligerently drunk one? Whether you are blinded by bias on partisan lines or just in need of something to believe in, check your shortsightedness at the door. The future of our country rests in the votes of those who could read up and make informed decisions, or take the easy way out and follow a crowd. Do you really want to feel guilty when those cardboard Obama eyes stare you down on your walk to class?