Prepare To Be Outraged

Human nature is such that we like being shocked, and I don’t mean by electricity. We like to be offended, outraged, insulted, amazed, flabbergasted, and overwhelmed by disbelief. Think I don’t know what I’m talking about? Pick up a grocery store gossip magazine, watch reality television, or tune in to the local news. Shock sells. The more outrage can be generated, the more coverage something will get. Facts and information don’t sell, shock and awe do. What else would explain the popularity of Paris Hilton, any of a myriad of reality shows, or new stories about outrageous human behavior? It’s not because we are stupid that we like this stuff, it’s that we like to be entertained, and being shocked by behavior in others is one of the oldest forms of entertainment.

Reality television is one of the best examples of this phenomenon. How many people’s daily reality mirrors that of a reality TV show? Pretty much no one. Yet TV producers keep peddling this stuff as reality. Why? Because we like to be shocked by what we believe is actual outrageous behavior in other human beings. When the word really gets out that reality TV is no more reality than Friends, it will dry up overnight. Who wants to watch fake reality reality? The powers that be in the TV industry know this, and they are milking it for all its worth while they can by creating ever increasing levels of shock and disbelief among viewers of their shows. Eventually this will reach a crescendo, and the inevitable collapse will follow, but they are cashing in on human nature while they can.

Stay tuned, you know you want to

Paris Hilton. Where to begin? She is the right woman for the right time. She is the face I would put on the shock entertainment industry. Her everyday life is one shocking event after another. Remember her sex tape, her revolving door of boyfriends and fiancés, her reality show, her cell phone being hacked and all the ridiculousness that followed, her music, the stupid things she has said? The list just goes on and on and on. Each shocking incident being overshadowed by the one to follow. I won’t be surprised at all when she is eventually accused of murder. Yes, Paris Hilton is the poster child of shock and outrage, and yet we can’t get enough of her.

So where does all this shock lead? It leads to jaded disillusionment. People lose faith in humanity, in a moral standard, in behavioral norms. There are some who say this is a good thing, “who needs morals anyway?” I think it is sad, and yet all too predictable that this is the reaction. When you are constantly exposed to the outlier, to the extremes of human behavior, it’s easy to develop a “who cares” attitude. In times past, before the rise of technology, you were only exposed to the shocking and outrageous that occurred in your own community. Now, the craziness of the entire world is instantly available 24 hours a day. It’s only natural that people’s attitudes have begun to shift…