By the way all the original (this one and featured image) that I am using this week are ones I took on the grounds of the beautiful Maitland Art Facility which includes a small gallery of art in a very historical and artsy buildings and gardens as well as a small history museum with a telephone museum in the rear which I explored on Sat. http://artandhistory.org/maitland-art-center/
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How much can you hate one man……WHEN IT COMES TO CAPTAIN BLACK JACK RANDALL THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ALMOST LIMITEDLESS.
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Today the final blog of the week I’m finishing my look at how we are remaking our world.
We started with remaking movies, then TV shows and finally remaking the lives, thoughts, disasters and more of those that have gone before us. Today we look at remaking the world as we have known it. OUR BASIC REALITY….
FIRST is REALITY TV; with this we deal with everything from Extreme Home makeovers to the Apprentice with the king of bad hair days.
Apparently we have the Dutch to blame for this for a little show called Number 28 in 1991 which apparently started the trend (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_television) and since then it has gone berserk–now I am excluding things like Pimp My Ride and home improvement and antique sales, these actually do occasionally offer good ideas as to work with or let you find out if that thing grandma left you is actually worth keeping or not.
First of all may I say to my black friends that I feel Reality (and in all cases I use this word in an understanding that anything close to my definition of reality is strictly accidental on these Broadcasts) shows have cast you into a set of roles that are neither flattering nor, in the case of the majority of my black friends and acquaintances at least, appropriate. In these shows black women can’t exist without bad mouthing each other, strutting around and generally being less than the true black woman is. Depth of character is replaced by loud talk, trash attitudes and foul mouths. I shutter every time I see one of these commericals.
The worst offender in my opinion on the “REALITY” circuit is The Kardashians—the family whose only real claim to fame, other than showing us all how unworthy of our attention they are on show after show ad nausea, is that their father got O.J. Simpsons off—Personally I’d rather see a reality show about OJ than this group. The worst part is people like me who never watch the show can’t get away from them as they’ve become so celebed (my word) that they’re everywhere–I’m expecting some of the new shows to do an update on which one farts next (wait maybe they already do and just haven’t put in the previews yet).
The Survival shows and running around the world to name a few are basically just petty—when I first started watching them (these I did watch early on but quickly lost my interest) and silly—these people for the most part spend more time whining than surviving. Turn the camera off, drop them in Hells Kitchen without directions or assistance or protection and see how many gets voted off in the first show….yeah that’s what I thought. They do have their good points though–at least I don’t have to follow-up on who they are marrying or divorcing or farting with.
The least offensive to me are the talent shows which provide entertainment in the form of dancing and singing etc. They do provide shows and actual entertainment—rather than listening to foul mouths or divorce issues. While I’ve watched a few of these I have friends to spend time with, books to read, things to learn and I just can’t set around putting all my energy into hoping Heather McCartney looses cause despite her handicap she isn’t a nice person—figured that out when Paul said bye bye.
OMG—I almost forgot this one—who ever invented a marriage (couple?) boot-camp show for Reality Shows participants who are having marriage difficulties—sorry I thought that was a requirement of getting on these shows. Now not only do you have to watch one dysfunctional theme, but you put them together trying to get the worst marriage of all time. If I hear that Satan ate your soul comment one more time I may go on the show just to get even. (don’t worry I’m socially weird I just only force the fact on my real friends and not the whole country).
And finally how the computer is changing our world, lives and possibly our definitions of reality and sanity.
First I realize the computer has done so much for so many and made the ability to bank, research, and babble about long held opinions (ops me) to many more than just our long suffering friends so much beyond what it was when I first started school that it’s mind blowing, but I am concerned with what it is doing to us…is the Computer not the Devil eating our reality if not our souls?
It scares me when family after family repeats the same story, their kids are constantly on some electronic device (don’t get me started on texting which I do but) 24/7. They’re not doing their home work, they doing games, and social media and watching porn or getting propositioned by sexual predators.
And then they get to be adults these same parents are amazed that they can’t get jobs, rarely leave the house and have no social life (unless you count the porn). I had one mom say her kid had lots of friends–turned out they were all on line and of course everybody you meet on line is exactly who they tell you they are.
A very dear friend had some health problems and losses and turned to a fantasy game (where you build your own castle and even have other on line minions to assist you with your magic). Now she (and she’s not a 20 something by any stretch) pretty much lives and breathes in that game and only comes out to eat or go to the bathroom. It’s not that she can’t leave the house, in fact the doctors has worked wonders with her but she could save her time and money as she needs only a minimal strength to deal with her new world.
The other day I saw a show where scientists (or at least some) have came to the conclusion that we live in virtual reality like the Matrix—so now we really have a paradox–we are living in our computers while we aren’t really living in the life we have. Sorry but I’m getting out and wandering–the computer is a tool not my life and I think I’ll keep it that way thank you.
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Does virtual reality provide us with new ways to augment, enhance, and experience reality, or does it undermine and threaten that reality? Virtual reality is equally prone to portrayals as either the bearer of bright utopian possibilities or dark dystopian nightmares, and both of these views have some basis to recommend them.
DEREK STANOVSKY, The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information
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