Reality TV is NOT Reality....

Today post is not about weight... it's about another good fight - the fight against mainstream media.  Read on....

Reality TV is not reality.  And this obsession is immensely unhealthy.

About a week ago, a former Kardashian fling (Yes, husbands can be flings if they last the minute that he did…) was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel with loads of drugs in his system. Media pandemonium ensued and has continued to wreak havoc on the headlines ever since.

I have had such a struggle lately to see why the media is flipping the hell out over this. I’m sure this isn’t the first time that someone has spent the equivalent of 3 years salary for a working family of 5 over the short span of 2 days on working girls. I am sure this isn’t the first time that some privileged schmuck has found himself unconscious after over indulging on illegal drugs, alcohol, and other risky behavior at that particular establishment so WHY THE F&$* DO WE CARE?

Mind you, this is coming from someone who can’t wrap her brain around what’s so flipping spectacular about the Kardashians – the waste of precious oxygen they are. 

Maybe the Mainstream Media is covering this like 9/11 because this the former Laker was an unsung hero? Maybe I am not aware of the millions of dollars he donated to starving children? Maybe the Media forgot to tell us all that this guy has spent a lot of his time off the court building houses for less fortunate people, or visiting hospitals where little kids are dying of cancer? Maybe for every Rolls Royce he buys he donates one to Make A Wish? Maybe he has a sickening excess of money to blow on stupid shit like ho’s and drugs but has spent infinitely more on helping give back to the society that is glued to their screens hanging on every word that comes out of his mouth.

Not that I spend hours on end researching this guys list of good works (It probably wouldn’t take even close to that long..) nor do I intend to – but I highly doubt any of that is true. His claim to fame is that he played along side Kobe and married (and divorced) a Kardashian. This makes him media royalty for some reason and I can’t understand it. 

The media talks about his downward spiral like it’s some horrendous tragedy. The Kardashians are lapping it up like a starving kitten in front of a bowl of warm milk and the majority of Millenials are making the same pouty heart-bleeding face that they make when they are surfing YouTube for that puppy who can’t quite figure out how stairs work.

This is not news. This is not something we need to spend our time on and yet mixed in with the more pressing current events over the past week is story after gut wrenching story of his progress. Today, he tells his ex-wife that he loves her. Somehow, the media deems this newsworthy and we have to filter through 6 different eye-witness accounts of that and what flavor of Jell-o he had for breakfast.

The intelligent and aware in our society is reacting much in the same way that I am – WTF. This is not a reality show. And this kind of useless shit needs to be reserved the The Learning Channel where people can tune in to the drama and chaos of other peoples lives and tune out of their own lives.  The Learning Channel where you really don’t learn anything other then the annoying habits of members of the Dugger Family. The Learning Channel where you can see Honey Boo Boo get type 2 diabetes while her family splits a sheet of cake with a side of pizza. The Learning Channel because “The Hold-Still-While-Your-Brain-Slowly-Seeps-Out-Of-Your-Ears Channel” doesn’t quite fit on a typical TV screen. And it’s not just the Learning Channel, though I am picking on them – it’s MANY of them. MTV used to be a channel where people could watch music videos – experience the visual art of music while enjoying the audio but it’s gone the same way too. Now, we get to see on a regular basis what color of boxers Justin Bieber is wearing (because kids these days don’t believe in pants that fit them or BELTS to keep them up…) and keep up on the crazy antics of the whacky Miley because it’s important to me which way her tongue is hanging out today – left or right? Really, this could change the course of my whole freakin day, right here.  Saturating the air waves anymore is table flipping, fight ensuing,  money wasting, selfish bullshit where back stabbing, lying, cheating, and being a terrible human being is the only way to get a rose… or a button, or another 15 minutes of air time. Watching the glamorous and privileged among us waste their fortune on frivolous crap has become a thing – and we can’t stop watching. Frankly, it’s infuriating that this garbage even gets a second of air time on the crappy channels but now we have to sift through it as we try to educate ourselves on more pressing issues. Now, we don’t have a choice but to have this useless waste of space in our faces – It’s everywhere. 

It’s disheartening to say the least that we live in a society where beautiful people can be ugly and stupid and get famous for doing it while the people who are truly good at heart and try to do the right thing are completely passed over. People will watch the Kardashians and others of their ilk all day long set their money on fire with their thousand dollar shoes and their designer bags and their demand for a $700 glass of wine with their chef prepared breakfast. People do this after working their double shift at the diner so they can afford to buy Junior that pair of Air Jorden’s he’s been demanding for weeks now because no one tells their kids NO anymore. 

The message to the media here is clear: Leave reality television to reality television and stop trying to force feed it down our throats. We don’t care if some stupid junkie decides to OD at a brothel in Las Vegas  - I’m sure this isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. We don’t care how long the guy was there. We don’t care what the Kardashians reaction to it is and we will continue to scroll past this useless BS while we are trying to educate ourselves on what’s happening in the middle east. We will continue to read about the atrocities happening to women in Africa and get informed about the war in Syria. We will try to filter out the no-good stories about this jack-hole while we get behind Malala and read newsworthy and inspiring stories about the LGBT movement and Black Lives Matter. And the only reason you should be telling us how much money he wasted during his time there (that we don’t care about) is to insight fury because this asshole can blow in 2 days what it takes most families 3 years to earn.

It is an unhealthy obsession that this country has with reality television and the sad thing is that we used to have a choice. We didn’t have to subject ourselves to that bullshit. We didn’t have to watch that channel. Now that it is everywhere we are seeing an overwhelming majority of people emulating that behavior and it’s sick. Our kids are growing up encircled by it and we don’t have the gumption to point out what utter nonsense it is so they don’t grow up thinking $400 for a pair of shoes is an acceptable way to spend their (or more likely YOUR) money.

At some point we have to say enough. I’m of the opinion that we passed that line a long time ago but it’s still showing up on my news feed. It’s still promoted in our faces with reports every hour on the hour. What’s even sadder is that some schmuck actually has to cover this BS non-story when there are women being mutilated in other countries and they are probably getting paid a substantial sum to do it because, sadly, people will read it. They will continue to hit the refresh button waiting anxiously for updates like a teenager with a crush waits by the phone. 

The demise of our society is written in this drivel. At some point we have to say enough is enough and encourage the more privileged among us to get their heads out of their kiesters and do something GOOD for once. Standing next to a spoiled blow-hard junkie as he wakes up from his drug induced stupor while you cry and hold his hand doesn’t count.