This is one of the funniest pages I’ve ever read. Can’t believe how stupid some people can be.
Reminds me of the article on customer support I once did, but this is the other way around. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Stupidity
Opium for the masses!
It has been quite a while since I last turned on my television, just to get some entertainment. I live in Luxembourg, so most channels are German or French. Scripted programming is usually translated in either of those languages and the big shows from the US are shown here with a delay of at least a year. So if I want to watch any of these shows in English and without the horrendous amount of commercial intermissions I have to watch them on my computer. This just to give you an idea of where I’m coming from.
Now the thing I’d like to rant about is the lack of intelligent programming that has been around for the last decade. When I was a kid, you could turn on your TV and watch a show that had a story and usually a decent amount of entertainment value, sure we had stupid shows like “Married with Children” or “Sledge Hammer” but even these were coherent and meant to entertain; to make you laugh. There were no talk shows, no courtroom “dramas”, almost no reality TV whatsoever. It all started with “Big Brother”, when a bunch of total idiots and social outcasts were locked up in a house and watched day and night. Somehow this voyeuristic concept that would make George Orwell roll in his grave sparked an “entertainment” concept that introduced new shows on a monthly basis into the ether. We now have shows that portray trials in a “real” courtroom, camps with celebrities that are filmed 24/7, girls in bikinis that talk about their body issues (YES there really is a show like that!), etc. The new seasons of “American Idol” and its German counterpart “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” illustrate my point perfectly. The viewer is not supposed to think while watching but to gloat, and to feel Schadenfreude and later on (after the casting shows) even laugh and cry with the contestants. Three moronic judges treat other people like dirt in the name of entertainment and nobody takes issue with this. Seems we all like to laugh at the misery of others just a bit too much to care. Well I guess that’s a good thing, just think what would happen if we started to feel sorry for people that are worse off than us… We might even want to help them! OH NOES! (I know I’m taking a big leap here and a lot of you will not agree with me, but in my opinion the lack of empathy is one of our major problems at the moment. It keeps us from taking issue with poverty and war, as long as we are tucked away happily in our homes.)
The current writers guild strike might seem like a bad thing for the viewer and the networks, but let’s be honest, what better excuse could there ever be for the networks to produce more mind numbing and stupefying shows? Especially in the US where the government wants to keep its people as dumb as possible, quality TV, that might help to keep the viewers critical and interested in a wider variety of topics, is like poison. If the audience still watches TV when there are only reality shows left, then why should the networks finance extremely expensive shows like “Lost”, if they don’t need them anymore? Just keep them clapping their hands like monkeys while the newest one-week-wonders are created, or the “American Gladiators” smash their competition. Just think of the repercussions if they would watch truthful news (which there thankfully are none) and open their minds!
Thank you reality TV for helping us fulfill our full potential. Being FAT and DUMB!
Now the thing I’d like to rant about is the lack of intelligent programming that has been around for the last decade. When I was a kid, you could turn on your TV and watch a show that had a story and usually a decent amount of entertainment value, sure we had stupid shows like “Married with Children” or “Sledge Hammer” but even these were coherent and meant to entertain; to make you laugh. There were no talk shows, no courtroom “dramas”, almost no reality TV whatsoever. It all started with “Big Brother”, when a bunch of total idiots and social outcasts were locked up in a house and watched day and night. Somehow this voyeuristic concept that would make George Orwell roll in his grave sparked an “entertainment” concept that introduced new shows on a monthly basis into the ether. We now have shows that portray trials in a “real” courtroom, camps with celebrities that are filmed 24/7, girls in bikinis that talk about their body issues (YES there really is a show like that!), etc. The new seasons of “American Idol” and its German counterpart “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” illustrate my point perfectly. The viewer is not supposed to think while watching but to gloat, and to feel Schadenfreude and later on (after the casting shows) even laugh and cry with the contestants. Three moronic judges treat other people like dirt in the name of entertainment and nobody takes issue with this. Seems we all like to laugh at the misery of others just a bit too much to care. Well I guess that’s a good thing, just think what would happen if we started to feel sorry for people that are worse off than us… We might even want to help them! OH NOES! (I know I’m taking a big leap here and a lot of you will not agree with me, but in my opinion the lack of empathy is one of our major problems at the moment. It keeps us from taking issue with poverty and war, as long as we are tucked away happily in our homes.)
The current writers guild strike might seem like a bad thing for the viewer and the networks, but let’s be honest, what better excuse could there ever be for the networks to produce more mind numbing and stupefying shows? Especially in the US where the government wants to keep its people as dumb as possible, quality TV, that might help to keep the viewers critical and interested in a wider variety of topics, is like poison. If the audience still watches TV when there are only reality shows left, then why should the networks finance extremely expensive shows like “Lost”, if they don’t need them anymore? Just keep them clapping their hands like monkeys while the newest one-week-wonders are created, or the “American Gladiators” smash their competition. Just think of the repercussions if they would watch truthful news (which there thankfully are none) and open their minds!
Thank you reality TV for helping us fulfill our full potential. Being FAT and DUMB!
War is peace / Freedom is Slavery / Ignorance is Strength
Say What???? 