Sad sacks on parade

I have never understood reality television. Well, that is not entirely true. I do understand it to a certain extent.

Most reality programs provide opportunities for average people like you and me to appear on television. The circumstances vary depending on the type of show, but the bottom line is most people equate being on television with stardom.

Stardom can be a double-edged sword. The most well-known reality program is probably 'American Idol' that appears on the Fox network. On that show, people from all walks of life compete to become singing stars.

However, some of the most well-known people that appear on the show are the ones who don't come close to winning. Some of the early episodes of each season are focused on those who audition and fail.

When I say fail, I don't just mean that they get rejected. I'm talking about people who are so laughably bad that they achieve a level of notoriety because they stink. They stink so bad that they are the subject of jokes nationwide after they fall on their faces on the show.

Of course, 'American Idol' exploits this. They enjoy parading these people in front of the cameras. I'd like to believe that a lot of these contestants know that they are not any good and are doing the show just for fun, but I do not believe that is the case.

I think they really believe they are good. So, their stardom is achieved by looking bad because they are talentless, and because of the way the show's judges destroy their dreams.

We live in a pretty cynical world when something like this passes for entertainment, but I guess this is where we are as a nation.

There are other shows that thrive on making their guests look stupid. Weekday afternoon programming is packed with courtroom shows. Basically, these shows consist of two opposing parties who agree to come on the show and settle their differences in front of a judge.

The disputes do get settled, but inevitably, somebody gets humiliated. When I see these shows, I just do not understand how a rationally thinking person would agree to go on them.

I watched part of one of these shows recently during my lunch period at work. The dispute being discussed included how one person retaliated against another person when she thought she had been slighted by the other.

And how did this person retaliate? The person had taken human excrement and put it in the jacket pocket of the other person.

Classy stuff, huh?

The rest of the program was basically a catfight between the two parties while the judge tried to insert a few comments while maintaining order in the court.

Of course, the reason there are so many shows like this is that there is an audience for it. After all, television networks are in it for the money, and if money can be made this way, what do they care? Money is money to them.

It is easy to criticize executives who create these shows, but they are only giving the public what it wants. We are the ones sitting in front of the televisions and settling for this type of entertainment.

If we raised our standards regarding what we watch, then the powers that make television shows would take notice and adjust accordingly.

Our attitude toward entertainment is all wrong. I think many of us believe that we have to accept what is shoveled to us.

However, we are the ones with the power. We need to start using it.