Reality or Minstrel Show

"Reality", today, has ostensibly gained a putrid connotation in our society – or perhaps only in my world. Personally, I equate the word with buffoonery and liken it to a modern-day minstrel show.  The public in general can't seem to get enough of people who are willing to eschew dignity and self-respect for the almighty dollar or their fifteen minutes of fame. Reality is the golden calf that entices its victims with a forked tongue and the tepid promise of fame – notice I did not say fortune...at least not for all.

I am vexed at how we patronize people for being boisterous, inarticulate, disheveled, and self-debasing – at least in their appearance and presentation.   What makes me even more apoplectic is the fact that the folks, who themselves are being paraded around the Internet and other media outlets, seem to relish the exposure, further exacerbating the inane image being portrayed of them.

Moreover, this malignant behavior seems to cross race, ethnic, and cultural barriers, finding fertile ground across the entire genre of humanity. Shows proliferate, showing people doing anything to get attention, elicit a laugh, or evoke a cringe. People eating the afterbirth from a newborn calf in the field in which it was born, to people allowing cameras to enter their homes and film their most intimate moments populate almost every broadcast channel.

Perhaps I can understand why some people allow cameras to follow them while they and their families say and do some of the most ridiculous things they can think of to elicit a response and appease the hordes of gawking fans that watch and relish in the audacious exhibition of self humiliation and, at times, depravity. Yet I bristle at the common practice of the News to seek out interview candidates that offer the best chance of getting Stepin Fetchit shenanigans.  This, seemingly regardless where the event has taken place – it’s almost as if they have a van full of buffoonish characters they can pull on demand when they need an Antoine Dodson or Charles Ramsey – almost! And though we laugh at these spectacles, I contend that this type of exploitation isn’t funny and perpetuates some of the long-held stereotypes some of us have fought to dispel with hard work and intellect.

I cannot fathom what people get out of the idiocy that seems to plague every facet of media with “reality” being the bait dangled from the proverbial hook. If it were that we were just a voyeuristic society who felt compelled to see, I would think the novelty of such reaction would have worn off by now. Unfortunately, what once could have been called novel is now a mainstay and, moreover, a commodity that seems to have a perpetual shelf life.

Who would have thought that stupid could be so profitable – boy was my momma wrong.

The danger in all of this is the message that is sent to those most impressionable by what they see: our kids. When they watch arguably mature people making fools of themselves with blatant disregard to decorum and personal dignity, the attention given to these characters makes a mockery of the principles and tenets many of us try so hard to instill in them. As a society we fail to understand the implications of our actions, choosing to ogle and support the ridiculous, giving rise to more iterations of the senseless every day.   

I know that I sound old and surly, admonishing society for failing to see the precariousness of their indulgences. Yet somehow when I see how ubiquitous the examples of imprudence and waning self-respect have perforated our lives through media, I feel compelled to sound the horn. Sure, some – in fact many – may condemn my words as an overreaction to a simple pleasure or innocuous form of entertainment that causes us to chuckle, click like, or share. But I see it as a malignancy that has the potential to cause harm if not recognized for what it is, and given its place in society – and dare I say homes -- as an exception and not the rule it is quickly becoming.

S. McGill

One of the most powerful things in the world can be obtained and used liberally by anyone who chooses to use it.  "If" can be the beginning of something great or the acquiescence to defeat. How will you use your "if"?