Reality Tv shows: guilty pleasure?

For starters, before you even ask, YES YES YES HELL YES I do watch reality tv shows !! Damn right, otherwise I would not be writing about it duh! 

And sorry but not sorry, I don’t feel guilty. Do you ? I mean seriously, we all at some point of our life have watched one of those, no matter if it was a food show, or a dance show, or a tattoo show whatever, it does not matter. And you know why ? It is ALL called reality tv  show ( RTS)!!!

And of course, none of theses shows never claimed any educational qualities. Like no RTS producers never said « hey my show is about teaching you life lessons ». Like come on, if you want to learn something, go grab a book, or watch a documentary, or go to the university, because let’s be honest here: television was never created to enhance our spirit. That’s the truth right there.

When TV was invented, in the late 19th-early 20th century, the sole purpose was to entertain people. The Second World War just ended in 1945, a lot of people died, families were separated, destroyed, well every country in Europe and The United States of America were trying to rebuild themselves and heal from their war casualties and material losses. And misery was everywhere. So to rebuild nations, people’s mind needed to be healed, and the best way to do so was to divert them. Then, lately, during the Cold war, television was also used as a super propaganda tool, to impose Government’s ideals, ideas and opinions on people. So one way or the other, television was invented to control minds (yeah like Jedi mind tricks 😉 ).

But actually, even before that, movies were also invented in order to divert people. Even before that, in the early 19th century people used to go the « pictures ». Back then, when photography was being developped, they invented what was I think movie’s ancestor. Actually, the concept was to project a lot of photographs which assembled tells a story. So people used to go to a theater, where someone passes photographs with a machine so rapidly that it tells a story. It is the prequels of nowadays movies. If you pay attention, when you go to the movies, in the back of the room, there is always a window and through that window you can see a projector and a light. And this is the band which content the movie. Like those who were born in the twenties still remember what a tape deck or a video cassette looks like right ? Well I’m not a professional but it is kind of the same idea.

Well I’m loosing my point, so I’ll stop the throwback here. But the point is, going to the pictures in the 19th century, watching TV, or going to the movies has never had the sole purpose of education. Actually, those things have been pretty much all invented after wars, or during economic crisis, with the aim of taking people mind’s off of their own problems. Maybe to make them laugh and still give them some hope during hard times (but I doubt the Governments were all that philantropists !), but surely, one could say it was to keep the little people busy by trivial things to be able to manipulate them.

And who ever came up with the idea was a genius !!Like seriously, someone just thought someday  « hey if I can keep their mind busy thinking about a stupid love affaire in the movie or the tv show or the play, I can go around them do my business and rob them without them even noticing anything ! ».  It is pure genius, we gotta give it to him or them (cause I’m sure it takes a lot of brains to come up with so much genius !).

Just think about it for a minute. You are a president, or a leader somewhere and you want everything to go smoothly, especially in your direction : what do you do to achieve that ? You want people to obey, and you want to get rich (while they stay poorer because it is always  funnier that way of course !), what do you do ? Well, you create a show, something new and catchy to catch their attention, and once you have it, you suck it until there is nothing left to suck. It is as simple as babysitting a seven-year-old child. If usually he never gets to watch cartoons, and you want him to keep quiet so that you can have your friends over while babysitting (and still getting paid for actually just having fun !), well, you put the child in front of a tv, you put a tape full of cartoons on it. The kid is sooo into it that, that he won’t even notice your friends, or whatever you are doing. You could actually leave him for hours (as long as he has food and cartoons) he won’t notice. Well, we are all as simple as that !

And I’m not a believer of conspiracy theories, but let’s be honest, we all now that no Governments, even in « democracies » do what they tell us they are doing. And if they wanna do stuff quietly, well they need to keep us busy while doing so. If your brain is drained by something, you don’t have time to think about other things. And I think that television was invented for that purpose, and also as a propaganda tool. As for an example, when Tvs first entered common people’s home in France, like when it was popularized, politics where the first to use it as tools to manipulate masses, especially during the beginning of the fifth Republic in France. Indeed, the presidential election opposing De Gaulle and Mitterand in 1965 was the first one of the 5th Republique, and also the first one which got showed on tv. By that time, more than half of the french society had a television in their homes, so candidates used it for propaganda, debates and influencing people. It was a new way of campaining, and it changed all of the codes, and people’s way of reacting. It totally changed the game !

So in the end, hell yeah television was invented to daze us, to overwhelm us, kill off our brain cells, so that we would not be able to really see the bigger picture, what’s happening to our societies, how they are run, who runs them actually, and just how the whole world is mismanaged. So if you want to be intelligent, to be aware, like truly aware of what’s happening all over the world (and not just your garden or your neighborhood!), well you will have to get your mind  out of the gutter and look out for information, because television is not the one which is going to inform you the way you should be ! And that is why I don’t take tv seriously.

So if I don’t take something seriously, why bother watching things that pretend to inform me when I know there is always a different angle to every situation that is not being shown because it does not interest the guy who directs the show ? Like, it’s been two weeks since I have switched on my tv seriously. If I want information, I know I can go on the internet and look for it, because the only information I’m interested in is the one where I can have all of the angles whithout someone else’s  judgement all over it before I can even get a chance to make mine.

 And that is also the reason why I watch RTS ! Lol, just kidding. But to be honest, I told myself, hey, they want me dazed right ? I might just do it myself on my own terms. At least I choose what I watch. You disagree ?

I’m not saying everyone should quit watching tv and throw theirs in the trash, but I am saying that people who watch tv every day, and who watch all of their news on tv are really really not the ones who have the right to tell me that RTS are killing off my brain cells, because it’s the same for them. At least I get to choose my killer , the day I die, and well, the way I do it !

I’m not a fifteen-year-old teenager (excuse me if you are about that age and you feel offended but you are an easy target on that one sorry!) who believes that Kim Kardashian is a role model for an example (and I know this one was also soo easy I could not resist). When I watch RTS, I really just want to get a really good laugh, you know just relax after  work or school, just chill. I watch it as I watch other tv shows with real actors you know, it’s not the same thing, and that is exactly why I watch it.

It’s just that, being an introvert, my days (even when I just go to class as a student) are more stressful and energy draining that most of extroverted people. And every introvert will agree on this : even if you are not shy, being an introvert makes social interactions feel like a vampire sucking out all of your energy. On the contrary, alone time enables us to restore our energy. And too much social interactions drain it reaaaally fast. So we need to recharge. So basically, the more we have to talk to people, go to parties, or small talk, the more we need to go somewhere quiet, and alone, to recharge our batteries. And every one has his own way of recharging, and one person can have many ways of recharging. As for an example, sometimes, to recharge after my school day, I need long talks with my boyfriend, sometimes I need to write poems, or sing, or yell, or punch the wall, or read, or just watch a damn reality tv show !!

So, all I’m saying is, every normal person, ( so it excludes teenagers, delusional peoples and others !) who like watching RTS DOES KNOW  it is not made to make her or him more intelligent. I am not looking for intelligence when I watch this, I am just looking for something or someone to laugh at, some ratchet character to laugh at. I have no expectations, litterally none. I know it is ratchet, stupid, fake, but it is a damn good way of taking my mind off my problems or just my daily life, or just a way to relax.

At some point of my life, like 8 years ago I used not to watch reality tv shows because I thought they were useless. Honestly the first time I saw one of my friend watching one I was like « what the heck are you doing? ». I used to think they were pointless. I still think they are, but, I understand know that it is a way of having a chill time as an other.  Eight years ago, I prefered reading (I used to read like one book every two days), writing stories, or spending my free time on the phone with my best friends. Well, today, I sip a glass of wine in front of « the Real Housewives of Atlanta », who cares ? I still read sometimes (less, but still), I still write, and well I’m finishing high school and I am still a pretty intelligent student so my brain cells seem to be just fine. Maybe I just grew up to discover another interest in those RTS, or maybe my life is just so boring that I find the need to spice it up sometimes with a little fictional drama. Who knows? I am not afraid to admit that my student life is most of the time boring. Like it is true. We all fall in the same boring day-to-day routine most of the time at some points in our life.

I am not an advocate of reality tv shows, but I am just saying to all of those judgemental pricks who criticize people who watch it to go fly a kite !

And please, as I said in the beginning, if you watch « Top Chef » or « Dancing with the stars » or « Keeping up with the Kardashians » well it does not matter, because it is all called reality tv so….just saying… (think before you bitch about it !) And don’t give me the « well you learn something out of a cooking show at least » response because I am not taking it.

PS: this article is not because I feel guilty, it is just to tell people who think I should, to go fly a kite (and I am being polite because all I’m thinking about is the F word but not gonna say it).

XOXO