Fake TV

Reality TV. Oxymoron. It just defies logic that something designed to appeal to an audience and is edited can qualify as reality. Yet it has to if it wants to be on TV. And so it goes back and forth, the people react in a real way, they don't have scripts, but the producers got to choose who is on the show and what parts to show.

But really, what does reality TV offer? A chance for people to observe the dark side of the human condition. The shows generally revolve around some kind of prize because who would put themselves through that willingly without a pay off? Actually lots of people would, being famous is the top choice now between fame and riches in surveys. Never mind it never says what you are famous for, it could be because you managed to flunk out of more schools than anyone else ever.

Why is this? Why are people obsessed with fame? What is so appealing about being constantly observed by thousands upon millions of people? Is it a product of high school? Advertising? Or is it actually a part of simply being human?

Lets look at them all. First on the list is the idea of high school.

In high school there are cliques, it is that way for teens, no matter where you are. And there are the groups of people everyone knows, or know someone who knows. Why? These kids are the ones who are louder in class, more confident in their assumptions maybe. Or the genius, the one kid who knows everything in every class that they are in. Then there is the outsider, the one who is outside everything you expect to the point they stand out simply because it is what they do. And finally the goofs, those people who are known because they are the targets for the bullies, the screw ups, the people everyone gets to mock.

Therefore we see people who are known in high school, and for myself at least i felt an envy for them, i wasn't the most widely known (that might have changed in the last few years, i am not sure). And i have to wonder, this being known, is it addicting for the people in high school? Do we learn there that being known means being popular, that it is always a good thing? High School, and the school system in general seems to lean towards that it is, but that may just be social interaction.

Now to look at the idea it is part of the human condition. Humans have evolved through millions of years to the state we are now (sorry if you don't believe that, but your gonna have a problem with a lot of stuff i write if you don't). Now the way the theory of evolution works is that the more you reproduce the more your genes are passed on. If your genes get passes on a lot they become the norm. When you are the hunter/warrior/magician that everyone knows in the tribe you are probably gonna get opportunities to have sex. Therefore these people who are famous got to pass on their genes. If there was anything in those genes which encouraged becoming well known they would get passed along, becoming part of the human race.

Even if it was just the desire for fame was part of the genes then it still would get passed on. Even if it was something where becoming well known was simply a side effect like being an alpha male/female it has since probably become part of who we all are, the same way it is common to have strong sexual desires (after all if you wanna pass your genes along your gonna need to have a lot of sex, and i mean A LOT!).

The final one is of course something which gets a lot of blame for the problems now. Society itself. We are a culture of attention whores. Yes we are. Yes we are. Deal with it. You don't like attention? Probably actually kinda common, but i bet you are also kinda jealous of those people who are funny or smart and sit there with everyone looking at them and don't feel nervous at all.

Or do you look at celebrities? Do you read magazines with famous people on the covers and skim through the articles about them? Do you mock certain famous people? Guess what?

Paying attention to it means you are participating in the cycle which makes you... can you guess? ... An attention whore. That's right, i am one too don't worry, i don't think i am that special. Yes, i think participating in the cycle makes you a part of it. And once you are a part of it i get to call you attention whore (i really like typing that and don't know why).

We live in a society where even if you don't really like celebrity you have to know about it, like it or not. How many people know that Brittney Spears shaved her head at some point? If you did just write i did in the comments.

We see all these famous people who may not have their lives together but they get to go out and spend time with other perfect looking people and buy insanely expensive things that at times are simply ridiculous but still kinda cool. In seeing these kinds of lives is it all that odd that we think we would be better suited for it, buying only practical things, giving to charity, keeping a level head when dealing with the paparazzi. We might think we could do it all, and so we want our chance to try.

And that is what reality TV offers a chance to do, to make the money needed for it and jump start the fame as well. But in the end it isn't real, your fame will fade because you stop producing drama for free, and within a year (at the most except for the lucky few) you will be gone from the public as they fawn over their new favorite as well as the actors and actresses who were they before you and will be after.

In the end it all looks to be a fantasy wrapped in delusions hacked apart through editing until it might as well be a soap opera. Reality? Try cheap, the true reason there are so many. They are the cheapest show that networks can do because they don't need actors except for the host, they don't need sets, and people volunteer. And its why i wont watch, i try to pull out from the cycle as much as i can.

And yet here i am writing for other people, contributing to the media, proving that i too am an attention whore.