America on Reality TV

‘Reality TV’- it’s come a long way since the The Real World hit MTV about 15 years ago. And while it’s titled “Reality” television, skeptics question how real it can be when people are followed around by a camera crew 24-7. It’s hard to believe the behaviors are real when the environment does not represent a typical day.

However, during the last season, I believe viewers witnessed the closest thing to “reality” portrayed on television. It happened on a show called Big Brother; and the person who was displaying real life in action was America.

For anyone who doesn’t watch the program, let me give you a brief explanation so you can follow along. Sixteen people are put into a house together, taped constantly, and one-by-one contestants are voted out of the house. Every person is acting by themselves, and of course; alliances are formed, and betrayed throughout the program. Eliminations occur until 2 people remain and then past roommates make the final decision of who wins the $500,000 prize. It does make TV watching, if you are into “reality programs”.

So, how did real reality occur during this program? It happened when the show allowed America to play in the games. This year, one of the house members was dubbed “America’s Player” and could not act on his own. He simply followed the instructions America gave him by popular vote of what they wanted to see happen. The player for America this season was Eric.

It was a great concept for the network; viewers would get more involved, and with more stake in the game they stay tuned for more episodes. The show airs 3-nights a week so it’s a big commitment. At the end of every episode, America would be allowed to vote on whom they wanted Eric to get nominated for eviction or who they wanted kicked out and this is where the true colors of the human spirit showed and it wasn’t pretty.

America would constantly pick the task that would be the hardest one for Eric to achieve, as if making someone’s life more difficult and then watching them squirm and the drama unfold is fun to see. For example, when any of the housemates could have been chosen to “give the silent treatment to” the person America picked was Jessica; Eric’s love interest. Why? This choice certainly sucked for Eric and it hurt Jessica, but that is what America wanted to see.

Then there was the missed opportunity to get Dick out of the house. Dick was the most callous player in the house; he was down right cruel to everyone. He called it strategy, but I believe there are just some people in the world with an ugly heart and he is one of them. He attacked everyone on a personal level; making fun of a gay man, one woman’s religious beliefs and another housemates past addiction to drugs and alcohol.

One week, the opportunity was there to vote out Dick who was up against Dustin for eviction and who did America want to see get voted out???

Dustin.

Why? For 3 very mean reasons:

1 - it would be hard for Eric and they knew Eric did not want to do that.
2 - it would be shocking for the other housemates and Dustin himself
3 - it kept Dick in the house so they could continue to watch the sick and twisted drama Dick stimulated in the house.

These were not the only “evil” choices America made this season, there were others, but these are 2 that best help make my point. As I watched the votes coming from America, it saddened me to realize, this is a picture of how our society wants to see other peoples lives unfold.

My friend Traci just wrote a similar Blog about the Britney Spears incident – you can read it on Traci Rant, connect through my page. But it’s the same thing, people thriving on, enjoying, and asking for people to be treated poorly. What happened to our society that everyone is so mean to each other and want to revel in the disappointments and heartbreak in other people’s lives?

Apparently not only does America like it; but when given the chance, the orchestrate it. Shame on you who voted as you did.