Shame On Who???

When I was in school as a youth, there would be times when a crowd would gather. In the center of the crowd would be a fight taking, or about to take, place. There would be one or more people shoving another person, words being exchanged in anger or derision, and the crowd would be egging them on. Well, the crowd closest to the center. The outer edges would usually be quiet and just trying to get a peek at the action.

More times than I care to acknowledge, I was in that crowd. Like the rest, I did nothing to break up the action. I was rarely in the center, either as antagonist or antagonee (is that a word? Well, it should be). My friends were usually the ones who were the aggressors so it was extremely rare that I might be antagonee.

Most of the kids would bypass these gatherings. They had better things to do, some had experienced them and wanted to avoid any future chances at being at the center of attention, and a rare few would go report them to the school authorities (if on school grounds).

Why do I bring this up? It's simple. I just read the following piece from the U.K. Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/susan-boyle/5423925/Susan-Boyle-Her-sadness---and-our-shame.html

I will sum it up for those of you who don't want (or wish to bother) to read it:

Susan Boyle, frumpy and drab singing sensation on Britain's Got Talent has had a bit of a meltdown after losing the finals. It is, therefore, all "our" fault. "We" encouraged her, "we" built her up, and "we" set her up for this fall from grace.



The summation:

Happiness doesn't come in the slip-stream of instant fame. There are no magic wands in life, and the story of Susan Boyle, which was sold to us as a fairytale come true, now reads like a lesson in sadness and shame. Her sadness and our shame.

Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Except it's wrong. What this column does is blame the general public for what a few did and ignores what the reality is about a reality show.

Overall viewership of TV is down. But among the small minority that watches prime time TV, the more popular shows are the reality shows and the talent shows. My son and his family are addicted to them, for instance. I have, on the other hand, not bothered with any of them. The media plays them up, they jumped on Susan Boyle's story like ants on a crumb, they splashed it all over the news and talk shows, they played the YouTube clip repeatedly, and they oohed and aahhed over her (actually fair) talent. But the real "reality" of it was that there was beauty in the beast. Our entertainers normally look like entertainers these days. They are beautiful, trim and sexy, and dressed in the latest fashion (they often create the latest fashions just by wearing them).

The YouTube clip of her first appearance before the panel revealed the truth, though. There were the bullies (the panel), the victim (Susan Boyle), and the rubberneckers (the audience) egging on the bullies. But the victim fought back, blackened a couple of eyes, and shamed the bullies. The crowd switched sides immediately. They cheered on the underdog (please forgive the use of the word "dog" in this instance, no offense intended to dowdy middle-aged women).

And that, my friends, sums up what reality shows are all about. They are that entertainment at the center of the noisy crowd on the playground or empty lot.

And it isn't "we" that is at fault. Because "we" didn't watch. "We" did not participate in any way. Most of us were busy elsewhere and do not understand or wish to be a part of a bullying crowd who laughs at the victims and cheers on the bullies and feels somehow better for taking sides. That is a small portion of the general population. And, as one of the vast majority of people who were never a part of it, I take umbrage at the idea that I should feel any shame at all.

One final note:

I feel very little sympathy for Susan Boyle beyond what I would have for any person who had a sad. or tough or both, life and then made it to #2 in a talent show and became world famous. No one sought her out, dragging her into an audition for the show, shoved her up on stage, and forced her to sing. She willingly stepped into the middle of that crowd and took on the bullies. As anyone who ever got into a fight knows, even if you win, you are going to end up with some bruises.


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