Journal Entry # 2 Reality Television

2/5/13: Journal 2 due.  Topic: Reread the essays regarding reality television on pages 93-110 in your text.  Write a journal response on your opinion of reality television. 

I personally do not like to watch many of the reality television programs that seemingly keep increasing.  I can't sit and watch a program about the "Real Wives" of any city or deciding who you are going to marry by competing against 24-30 others all living in the same house.  Reality television is typically not about real life situations but yet so many are sucked into the shows week after week.  Many people watch so many different reality shows they have a hard time telling what is real and what is not real in the "real" world around them.  Bryant Paul said it best, "The novelty is wearing off."  Every time I turn on the television it seems like there is a new reality show available.  Today's society use reality television to escape their real lives.  We live in a world of voyeurs.  We will sit and watch others making a fool of themselves at the chance to win something or in hopes they might become famous.  The New Statesman blamed not only reality viewers but also participants for the culture of voyeurism. Nearly a year after that article, a Newsweek headline read: "Another reality show, another IQ point disappears."  Mindless television equals mindless people?  The basic needs of reality viewers proved that truth is sometimes scarier than fiction.  Some people like reality television because it makes them feel more important or superior to those they are watching.  Johnny Knoxville's series of shows and movies showcase that someone is willing to watch others purposely humiliate themselves and the empire of "Jackass" is still thriving.  I, like so many others, have sat and laughed at the antics of Johnny and Steve-O and the other cast members as they purposely injured themselves.  Waite and Booker would classify this as "humilitainment," which is the tendency for viewers to be attracted to spectacular mortification.  I don't think that all people watch reality television as a means of escape but as solely for non-judgmental entertainment. 

References and Notes:
Reiss, S., & Wiltz, J. (2004). Why people watch reality TV. Media Psychology, 6, 363-378

Annette T. Rottenburg & Donna Haisty Winchell (2012). Elements of Argument A Text and Reader, Tenth Edition, 3, 93-101.