Is reality television a mirror of us?

As a further discussion to our topic in class today I found an article that related to reality television and the common complaints associated with it.  This author explains that “one of the most common complaints about television — that it moves society in deplorable ways with all its sex and violence and general prurience — is also one of the most fraudulent.”  This article says that Hollywood TV is really a reflection of what we are like in society and what our interests are rate the shows of what become popular. 

The author also expresses the idea that through all of the reality tv shows out there, “Extreme Home Makeover” is the one with a positive message and it says more about us as a society than other shows like “Fear Factor.”  In addressing the Extreme Home Makeover in Colonie, the author says that the vast majority of the volunteers, you will never see on TV meaning that they are looking for something else besides three minutes of fame.

As a community the author believes that if reality tv is a mirror of the people, then most people will like what they see this week.  I agree. Regardless of the meaning behind the people’s volunteering, I would like to think that this reality tv show gives us a positive meaning. 

Acceptable Beating?

With our ongoing discussion in class over “torture” I found another very disturbing article.  Through salon I found an article “Judge: Wife beating is normal in your country.”  This article discussed how a woman in Germany attempted to get a quick divorce from her husband because he was beating her and threatening to kill her, however in Germany there is a mandatory one year waiting period before you can get a divorce, apparently regardless of the situation.  Since the woman was a Muslim the Judge told her that the Koran allows men to casgate their wives meaning wife beating would be common.   I think the author brings up a good point… she lives in Germany, why wasn;t she brought justice?? why is her religion put against her in a way and making her succesptible to this beating when she is obviously asking for help?? 

I think this is absolutely absurd and this judge should be ashamed of herself.  There is no reason why it should be allowed for anyone to harm another person especially with the threats this husband was making.  What kind of example is this setting to other Muslim women? especially those who are being abused and are now too afraid to seek help when they won’t get any justice anyways? 

Maddness

Many people would think that March 15 is just another regular day, however, to basketball fans around the world they have long been awaiting this day — The beginning of the NCAA College Men’s Basketball Tournment.  I found through Salon a blogger who is very intense about this subject, so much so that he updates it frequently throughout the day.  This article gives an update as to who won and what went on in the games about twice an hour.  CBS has full coverage of all of the games, showing the games instead of their regular program.  One thing that this Tournament has caused all over is extreme betting among brackets.  I liked this blog site because it’s a lighthearted discussion about a fun sports event.  It’s nice every once in awhile to read something out of enjoyment rather then always seeing serious news stories.

I must admit I’m a huge basketball fan and find myself filling out brackets (although I unfortunately never win) but its kind of funny to think about what a big deal this has become.  I think this year is definitely important because a local school is involved, UAlbany.  Since this blogger’s article is so frequently updated it will be interesting to see what he has to say about our home town team. 

Now I know I’m off on a tangent and this doesn’t really relate much to this topic but today a man apparently turned himself in saying he was responsible for 9/11 and many other terrorist related attacks… I saw about a 30 second news story on this (which one would think would be a major event) and I’ve seen about two hours of basketball today — it’s strange to think what our importances are in this country.

Couric – Success or Failure?

I found an interesting article through Yahoo News about Katie Couric, a well known news anchor.  This article discussed how CBS hired a new producer to run the “CBS Evenig News”.  Katie Couric was very well known for her career with the “Today Show” and left that show to be the first woman anchor on an evening news program.  The article discussed how Couric’s first two weeks of the Evening news the ratings were great and now the CBS news program is in third place behind NBC and ABC.  Many critics believe the reasoning behind the ratings drop is because Couric does more commentary rather than actual hard core news stories.  CBS hopes that by hiring Rick Kaplan, a veteran in television, their ratings will rise with the Evening News again because viewers will know what to expect.

I really enjoyed Katie Couric on the Today Show because I think she had a really great personality, however I don’t know if the move to the Evening News was the best decision for her.  I definitely think she is qualified enough, regardless of what the critics think, but personally I enjoyed her light hearted personality with the morning news.  It will be interesting to see whether or not this new producer will boost the ratings.

Inconvience

So thinking about frustrating things, I decided to write a blog about one of the most annoying things in the world — hiccups.  I saw on the Today show several days ago a girl who was suffering from unconditional constant hiccups.  I found a story about her that seemed really interesting. 

A teenage girl from Florida had an annoying case of hiccups, that lasted way longer than normal, 5 whole weeks.  This article addresses how the girl, Jennifer Mee, attempted everything to try to get rid of them and nothing seemed to work.  Mee was said to have hiccuped up to 50 times a minute and only stopped hiccuping while she slept.  After trying every cure unsuccessfully, her hiccups just randomly stopped.  The story expresses the cause of hiccups and things that can trigger them. 

I can’t really imagine what it would be like to be in a sitution like this.  I think that in our culture today we hate to be inconvienced and the thought of having something like this bothering a person seems ridiculous.  I definitely do sympathize with this girl, but as we have talked about in class is this really news?? do we not have more important things happening in the world to write stories about? Yes, it’s unusual and interesting but it’s sad to think this is what our “news” stories are coming to.