You can turn on the television any day and become scared of a small subset of people that are trying to destroy America.
That's generally why I don't watch television; I don't like being depressed. No, I'm not saying I avoid the news—I get that online. Terrorists don't worry me because, sorry Osama, Tyra Banks beat you to it.
The new wave of music channel programs and fashion competition shows is probably one of the most ignored threats to the American society.
Watching these programs either makes you hate the people that you reject, or subconsciously hate yourself and the way you look if you have jealous envy.
I saw my first episode of America's Next Top Model not long ago. I don't watch any television programming regularly, so whenever I do I always learn something new about the progress of the American appetite. This time was no exception. I mostly pondered why people would spend their free time watching a bald man with obnoxiously stylish facial hair tell a girl who looked anorexic that her skirt made her thighs look fat. When you see something like that, there's little more you can do than smile, nod your head and admit we're doomed.
When the girl broke into tears, I really couldn't care—it's her fault for taking people like that seriously. However, it's hard not to feel bad for the thousands of young girls who watch a perfectly slim model being called fat and then slump off to their mirrors to begin a long, arduous process of self-hatred.
The judges then proceeded to critique a series of photos where four models dressed up as anime-esque characters while riding motorcycles.
My favorite part was when Tyra tore into one of the girls, saying that being a model meant more than wearing make-up and looking pretty. I looked ""model"" up in the dictionary and found out Tyra was wrong.
A model is defined as either a toy airplane you make at age seven if you have no friends or a completely useless human being. I guess I have a lot to learn.
I also had the pleasure of viewing My Super Sweet 16, where I realized capitalist propaganda is now the national pastime.
The show fixates upon rich girls who are turning 16 and throwing ""the biggest party anyone in this town has ever seen!"" It's good to see teenagers who do absolutely nothing to earn money blowing a fuse because a dress doesn't come in red or because daddy didn't buy them the Mercedes they specified.
The best part is to then think about confused pre-teen girls, who watch show after show of this kind of stuff and naturally end up thinking that this is how you spend your sweet 16—nagging your parents till they buy you shit and then taking what you get and rubbing it in everyone else's face.
People who worry about TV violence should concern themselves with the more ubiquitous and likely threat: people growing up with the idea that money is something you use to buy things that define you as better than other people.
These programs are constantly barraging people. Many claim they brush this problem off as trivial, but if you see the same thing enough times you're going to start to subconsciously think this is how American society works.
Sure, it stimulates the economy, but if these kinds of shows make superficial assholes out of the next generation, I don't see any point in pretending American society is worthwhile.
The solution? Stop watching programs that turn materialistic judgments into a way of life. If we're going to worry about terrorists hurting our society, we should make sure what we have is worth saving in the first place.
