Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Clay Aiken Nation
If you bother to analyze “reality TV,” it’s hard to comprehend what took the vultures who run things so long to exploit the concept. No multi-million dollar deals for a pampered cast, minimal crew, essentially no sets at all...it’s practically all profit, plus: It caters to both sides of the all-American voyeurism/exhibitionism duality.
I’m not much of a TV watcher so I’ve only seen snippets and/or a stray episode or two of such programming. Is there anyone out there who watches these shows, is willing to admit it in public, and might wanna explain the appeal...from your perspective at least?
Even better, any ideas for a radical reality show? Sticking with the recent t-shirt motif, I’d like to send people into public places (work, malls, school, stadiums, etc.) wearing the most radical t-shirt messages and images we can muster...and film the reactions. Or maybe rewire people’s TV sets so they get, say, a public talk by Chomsky or Arundhati Roy instead of the cooking channel...just to see what happens.
Higher concept: Take 50 CEOs and Cabinet members and make them live in Haiti or Mali for a year...on one dollar a day.
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On a more serious note: Allan Nairn offers some perspective on Aceh:
ZMAG.
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