It all seemed to start out so innocently.
In 1991, MTV launched \The Real World,"" which offered viewers a bird's-eye view into the lives of an assortment of conflicted and contentious characters. ""Survivor"" wasn't bad; pitting man and woman against nature and the odds seemed like a somewhat novel idea. The continual challenges, the constant potential for elimination, the emotions always on display-it riveted us.
Yet there was always the sense that, somehow, TV would latch onto what was still a recent innovation and spin, corrupt and bastardize it until reality TV had morphed into what it currently is now: an over-hyped, over-sensationalized, tired and hackneyed formulaic display of irrelevant dribble. From aging pop singers dying for one last gasp of air in the limelight to faded and wrinkled Hollywood harlots desperate for recognition, reality TV has room for all.
The factory that is reality TV has spawned more spin-offs, ""returns to"" and just plain ""twos"" than can be listed here. Enough damage had been done to the American psyche with the first incarnation of the ""Simple Life""-there was no need for an encore.
Yet we yearn for more. Why else would the detestable Simon Cowell's smug face continue to find its way onto Fox? Not that anyone would confuse Fox with a bastion of quality programming on TV, but the point remains: We look to a glowing, empty, soulless box for meaning, for ""real-life"" drama, to see life on display at its most uninhibited. We are willing to grant aging stars another 15 minutes of fame, or promise new starlets their first 15 for a brief foray into their existence. Why? Do we really need to supplement our own existence with knowledge of Ozzy Osbourne's? Are we willing to make Flava Flav's gigantic clock necklace the latest fashion trend?
The real issue here is that we're too depressed with reality writ large not to yearn for some shallow, mindless relief-something that doesn't require us to think too hard or worry too much. It is the same reason we'll read US Weekly but shun The New York Times. Reality, folks, is that several thousand people can be indiscriminately wiped off the planet in the blink of an eye by a devastating tsunami, and that upwards of 15 million Americans scrape by day to day without any health insurance. These are certainly trying times, and perhaps we'd rather not be reminded.
But as understandable as that desire is, it amounts to a disservice to turn a blind eye to real issues like these. We would do well to educate ourselves about what can admittedly be horrifying. But the answer to these pressing problems does not lie in the supposed wisdom of ""Survivor's"" tribal council or in an Ashlee Simpson song. It lies in an education that yields foresight and meaningful solutions. Only in knowing what problems we face can we ever hope to solve them.
To be sure, this is not the reality reflected in reality TV. And it is certainly ironic that a genre whose claim to fame is that it depicts what life is really like comes nowhere close to doing so. But it is certainly real enough to draw our attention away from a reality that is much more requiring and deserving of our attention. We must acknowledge what is fact, be informed about it and focus on it to maintain any hope. Otherwise, pressing problems such as these will continue to be the order of the day while we bask unaware in the limelight of primetime TV.
Bob Probst is a senior majoring in political science, legal studies and integrated liberal studies.
