Yelling at the Television

Today is apparently International Yell At Your Television Day. Did you notice?

*SOMEONE* (bff C) said I needed to watch The Virgin Diaries so being the friend that I am, I set it on the dvr even after seeing the commercials and being emotionally scarred for life.

I understand that reality television finds the lowest common denominator when it comes to casting but Oh My Gah.  Where do they find these people?  While it didn't feel scripted (though I am sure that it is) I cannot conceive that these people actually exist.  Not the virgin part, but the complete lack of knowledge of human affection or interaction.

Say that they only watch network television, PBS, or Christian programming, they still feature kissing.  Even commercials feature kissing.  Disney channel, I am sure, shows kissing.  How do these people not know, even a little bit, how to do something as simple and as a human as kiss?

Don't watch the show as it has no redeeming qualities other than perhaps a conversation starter.  (such as finding out that *someone* didn't even watch the whole thing :-) Kevin just kept saying "This is why premarital sex is a good idea!"

To add insult to injury, the following program  was Toddlers & Tiaras.  After watching Living Dolls years ago, I know that my threshold for child pageants is incredibly low, if non-existent. I have never wished for an airplane ticket, a gun, and an empty credit card so hard in my life.

  I refuse to watch any show featuring child pageants because I believe they shouldn't be legal. (pageants, not the shows but really, the shows too)  I honestly believe that it's porn.  Adults are dressing up small children as adults for their own personal enjoyment.  That is a fetish, not a hobby or a competition.

While switching shows on the dvr, we could hear & see the show playing.  It caught my attention because the girl on the stage wasn't a girl, she was a baby.  A baby.  She had clearly just learned to walk and as a result, she fell.  Flat on her face, bum in the air, fell.  She started to cry, because she's a BABY.

The attendant, because "mom" is in the audience, leaves her be to see if she'll recover "properly" and continue.  Because she's a BABY, she does not. So the attendant half-assed consoles her.  All I can think is "Don't touch that baby you skeevy excuse for a human" then the camera pans to the "mom".

She's appearing worried, not because her baby has just face planted but because HER DIAPER WAS SHOWING.  "It's okay because in these circumstances, you can't help but have the diaper show."

Meanwhile you pathetic excuse for a human being, your baby is STILL CRYING.

I use the eff word. I'm no prude but it's not normal for me to use it regularly or loudly.  I found myself yelling "SHUT THE F*&K UP YOU HORRIBLE PERSON!!!" 

I startled myself, and certainly startled Kevin.  I switched it immediately because I just don't need that sh*t in my brain.  I don't want to support that "industry"  in way, shape, or form. 

Moral of the story: reality television finds the lowest common denominator and glorifies it.  We have to stop watching it, especially and specifically when children are featured.

*stepping off my soapbox now*