Everything is a Competition

I've noticed a trend in the world of reality television that proliferates as entertainment. Competition is the driving modus operandi behind each of the shows premise with the exception of "The Nanny," and the strangely tragic, "Wife Swap." It seems our country, our cultural consciousness is all about competing for some prize, whether it be money, weight loss, or a boost to a lagging or nonexistent career. The newest addition, the one that should truly give us pause, is a superficial take on William Golding's allegorical novel, "The Lord of the Flies," usually popular in the middle school years, as a study of how man's need for hierarchy pushes these stranded youths to form tribal communities that reflect the greater world from which they had survived.

In television talk, it's "Survivor" meets a bunch of young kids stranded on some remote location, playing out dangerous games for prizes. Here is the question which kept cropping up as I read bits and pieces about the long lasting damages this experience will, or might, have on the young kids, whose parents had signed up to participate in this ridiculous show. Why? Why sign your kids up for such a contrived, ridiculous experiment, documented on television and watched by people who really don't care whether your kid ends up becoming the Piggy of the show. Not that there will be the sacrificial lamb as Piggy became, but then we're only into the beginning of the season, so who knows what the end of the series will bring.

This cultural emphasis on competing, which we know exists in all forms, subtle and not so subtle, has now became the basis for entertainment. We have gone way beyond the days when Bob Barker's "Price is Right," dominated as the game show to watch. The greatest difference now is that each of the reality shows pretends to not be a game show, which in essence it becomes. Instead of luck and chance determining whether you walk away with that refrigerator is now based on talent, hard work, and gamesmanship--conniving.

Have we become a nation of voyeurs because our world is shrinking in prestige and power? Our dollar is now at all time low on par with the historically laughable Canadian currency. In epochs of civilizations, we are truly on a downward trend, or so each bad news seems to point. How far, and how badly our demise is still to be determined. And more scarier is who or what will retain that dominance since we know that in the natural hierarchy of life, there is always a dominator. Does our general helplessness about our world contribute to our nation's new focus on life where there is always a winner and a loser? Or is it merely the limited, and I mean limited, creativity of an industry, much like our great nation, unable to compete with the advancement of technologies, whose only remaining originality is in shocking us? Or is our national gluttony--although those who live below the poverty level would disagree with my characterization of our country as being plentiful--contributing to our demise, much like the hedonism of the great Roman Empire?

Whatever the reasons, each of us--and I'm not immune or guilt free--contributes to this downward spiral of our cultural lives as we turn in each week to see who will become "America's Top Chef." I glanced at the new show offered with little remorse or apology by CBS called, "Kid Nation." My stomach turned over seeing such young faces talking directly into the camera about how they had out maneuvered or out performed their peers to be that week's winner. It was too disquieting to sit through. And again, the question that begs to be answered is: who are their parents? And more importantly, why?