"They are everything that's wrong with America," says Paul Telegdy. Who is Paul Telegdy, besides one of the many that feel this way? The ironical nature of this statement is that it comes from the head of of NBC's reality programming. His official title is Executive Vice President and Alternative Programming. Isn't it reality TV that has unfortunately thrust this loathsome twosome into our cultural zeitgeist? Does this statement constitute some sort of tacit understanding of the complicity of NBC in contributing to the downfall of critical thought in America, nay North America? "They are insincere, lazy, entitled and they claim the devil has possessed them too."
Wow. Sounds like some of my students.
But seriously, what is this obsession with celebrity? (I'll get back to these two idiots shortly.) The cult of celebrity that has exploded in our time? What is the fascination with such people as moron Spencer Pratt, his idiot wife Heidi, sex tape star Paris Hilton among others?
What is with the dumbing down in popular culture? Why can most of my students spout off a litany of facts about Ms Hilton and yet know nothing about the genocide in Rwanda? Nor even appear to care to learn? This goes hand in hand with the oft-heard brag they give me at the beginning of every semester: I never read books.
Do Americans really believe Jon Stewart is the most reliable newsman since Walter Cronkite?
More to come ...
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