I feel like i'm watching a modern reality TV version of the Beverly Hill Billies

Man, do you not hate these hypocrites? They have the incites of 4th graders, have national TV programs and we get to watch them "grow" as "individuals". I seem to recall Bill recently saying the war on Iraq was the wrong decision as well, now he has set his sights on his own favorite Philosophy that he worships, Christianity.

I'm beginning to think this country doesn't want "expert" advice from people who are adept in their fields. They want news inspired by "reality" TV where no one even knows what the fuck reality even is because some how that is "down-to-Earth" to them.

>> ^ponceleon:

Don't have time to see the whole thing now, but I feel like the new challenge for journalism in the information age is that they need to understand that freedom of the press is not freedom to report without checking facts. Sensationalism is the rule rather than actual reporting. In an age where "reality" TV is scripted and caters to the lowest commmon denominator, as a society we have to hope that this too will bounce back.
If anyone saw last night's South Park, it was pure brilliance. We just need James Cameron to come in and raise the bar dammit!


Journalists work for money the same as most folks. Good journalism in the sense you're talking about takes time, and therefore is expensive. Furthermore, balanced, dry articles about the nuanced nature of the world around us don't lend themselves well to attention-grabbing headlines, a problem perhaps exacerbated by the need for page views and the ability to track, per article posted, what people view most.

I mean, really, what are more people going to want to read - or rather, see - "Higgs Boson identified with high probability" or "Lady Catherine caught with her tits out - photos inside!"?

We've conflated information with entertainment. I wonder how to turn that particular tide back.

Don't have time to see the whole thing now, but I feel like the new challenge for journalism in the information age is that they need to understand that freedom of the press is not freedom to report without checking facts. Sensationalism is the rule rather than actual reporting. In an age where "reality" TV is scripted and caters to the lowest commmon denominator, as a society we have to hope that this too will bounce back.

If anyone saw last night's South Park, it was pure brilliance. We just need James Cameron to come in and raise the bar dammit!

Well, except the last part where she says she never thought she could do that, and she's only ever had her friends and family say that she's good... kind of alludes to her never having performed in front of a crowd does it not? They certainly do their best to give the impression this is her first time doing anything.

>> ^FlowersInHisHair:

Who said she'd never performed before? She wrote the song and can play the guitar... it's pretty much a given that she's performed before, right?
>> ^spoco2:
Hang on... this gave the impression she was just someone who had never done this before.
But this aired just now, August 2012, and yet:

[Wikipedia]In July 2011 she was announced as the runner up of the Urban, Pop & Acoustic category of Live and Unsigned at the age of 20. In June 2012 she performed alongside Razorlight at Osfest at Oswestry Showground in Shropshire

So, the Osfest performance may have happened after this was recorded, but she had at least competed (and one would have to assume performed) before this, and released an album...
So, while I like her, something twigged that she seemed a little too comfortable while singing, a little too well rehearsed to be doing this the first time.
Stupid 'reality' tv

Who said she'd never performed before? She wrote the song and can play the guitar... it's pretty much a given that she's performed before, right?
>> ^spoco2:

Hang on... this gave the impression she was just someone who had never done this before.
But this aired just now, August 2012, and yet:

[Wikipedia]In July 2011 she was announced as the runner up of the Urban, Pop & Acoustic category of Live and Unsigned at the age of 20. In June 2012 she performed alongside Razorlight at Osfest at Oswestry Showground in Shropshire

So, the Osfest performance may have happened after this was recorded, but she had at least competed (and one would have to assume performed) before this, and released an album...
So, while I like her, something twigged that she seemed a little too comfortable while singing, a little too well rehearsed to be doing this the first time.
Stupid 'reality' tv

Hang on... this gave the impression she was just someone who had never done this before.

But this aired just now, August 2012, and yet:

[Wikipedia]In July 2011 she was announced as the runner up of the Urban, Pop & Acoustic category of Live and Unsigned at the age of 20. In June 2012 she performed alongside Razorlight at Osfest at Oswestry Showground in Shropshire

So, the Osfest performance may have happened after this was recorded, but she had at least competed (and one would have to assume performed) before this, and released an album...

So, while I like her, something twigged that she seemed a little too comfortable while singing, a little too well rehearsed to be doing this the first time.

Stupid 'reality' tv

This video makes some fair points to consider, but it's drowning in baseless assertions (i.e., actors on reality TV shows acting out in psychopathic ways that transform into social norms).

It's stuck up its own ass, failing to take a step back to view consumerism as merely a proxy by which those in power can hold on to it (much like religion, patriotism, etc.). We're not all sheeple, but we are all human and are prey to the natural tendencies that underly tribalism.

Facebook is just a courier (and the video makes mention of that fact, relating it to the argument "guns don't kill people; people kill people"). Which is quite ironic, given that the thesis misses the forest from the trees (sic).

So that makes him a hipster elitist because he's not a Jerry Springer fan? Count me as one of them too because I watched that Springer element go from fringe to prime-time mainstream over the past 15 years and there's no escaping it. The in-your-face booger-eating shock value that at one time you only saw in the mentally-challenged kid in your school.

And now this instant powdered fame has become a bankable commodity, if you're a pretty girl who eats her own earwax or admits to liking the smell of farts you can become a star. Or you don't mind pranking your mother on-camera by telling her that you're pregnant with your high-school art teacher's baby, just to "push the envelope" of reality TV.

Like the guy in the movie my workplace is full of college grads who were weaned on this crap, it's all they know. They talk like they think they are some sitcom sidekick, spitting out this stream of snarky, hip, pop-culture references and this week's memes and reality show updates. With a smug grin because the studio audience in their head is cheering them on.

So you can have it. Call it a hipster pose but I am too good for this crap. I don't care if there are 32 million of them, this crap is for morons and it will only get worse.
>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:

So you're including yourself in that group, yes?
Or are you too hipster for that? "I was counter-culture before counter-culture was a culture."
>> ^gorillaman:
I hope we all understand that you can nod your head along to the sentiments in this video and still be a part of the problem.

Oh don't hate them for their race.Hate them for their Player Class--Gangsta,where anyone who figures out how to string a dozen words together in front of a microphone feels entitled to Phat Lootz,or they blame "the Man" for their failures and consider random acts of violence and theft their Just Retribution we somehow owe them. I can appreciate Good Music of any sort,and acknowledge the Art and Craft of its creating auible sculpture with sound and voice. However,I will say I can do so without buying into a whole subculture that thinks wearing your pants half off is a fashion statement. I don't see the Enya Posse in Blue Wold on their faces and sporting designer kilts running around(although we should!). To quote a line from Animal House "Stoned Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life,son.",and that's what the subtext of the subculture amounts to. Flashy glamour is nice,but none of it matters in the face of Real Work and the instinctual Need to get it done. This seperates the Artist from the Mob,wanting to devote time away from a constant party and to physical and emotional labour to conjure something meaningful magical and new. Stepping back to admire the fruits of your handywork is a high no mass of shiney strangers can ever hope to beat. Someone in that Flashmob has orginizational skills...300 people is quite a turn out. Wouldn't it be Nice if they had much enthusiasm for something Positive,like a neighborhood watch? twittering about crimes happening to the police can help keep their neighborhoods safe,which are crawling with drugs and shoot outs."Yo Dawg! The Bruthah from that Bodega Shooting is here on Main Street!" Maybe if the "Hood wasn't such a Scarey Place,businesses would come in. And if they didn't feel it was their right to steal,they might find good jobs from the new businesses and earn a living instead of demanding one.

But one has to have Morals for that. I see none in that video. People who don't mind rampaging in front of a sea of security cameras.Can you convince such people to Play Nice at all,or past the point when doing the right thing inconveniences you?Do people sometimes need the threat of Guns even to keep civil? Suddenly snide remarks about Evolution suddenly make SENSE. But its SOcial Evolution at play here,and at fault. WE are Rome trying to convince a native of the Province they conquered to kindly not shit in the street. Sometimes you need clubs for that. But something tells me these people need their lives managed for them. Maybe wall up a ten block radius of a poor neighborhood,move all the families out nd let them play hip Hop as a live action video game where the bullets are real and cameras everywhere record the drama Live! The ultimate Reality TV Urban Experience fully packaged and ready for heavy merchendising! They can compete for resources and earn fabulous prizes,and hopefully only shoot themslves instead of the rest of us just trying to get on with life.


The Hip Hop experience...Unrated on Pay Per View.Visit our Website and Twitter your opinion on the utterly SICK way DJ Do Wah Ditty Diddy Dum Diddy Do had his ear shot off in the fight for the corner of 134th street and Avenue F! Log in with your SmartPhone and soak up all the sleeze with the HoodieCam!

It'll happen. You'll see. It's very Roman.

why is it that ted nugent and gary busey are not on a reality TV show together?

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

The reason why this moment is so glorious is because it's real. So rare on TV. Especially reality TV.

Did anyone watch this turd?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/super-bowls-greatest-commercials-cbs-hosts-vote-282740

My god the stench.

yes it is>> ^longde:

I don't think anyone is really this dumb.
But is that Michael Madsen?

Hi! Just wondering is there any trick to embedding oldstyle in the comments? Never figured it out myself, as a trail of mesed up comments shows

In reply to this comment by G-bar:
so I'm assuming all those Idiots never saw this:


(sorry, I just found out how to emb-old style : )