Media Programming I
By: Crick	Published: 09/05/2000
Two weeks ago, the nation sat paralytically in front of their televisions and watched the finale of the series, Survivor. For those of you who know what the show was all about, I suggest you think again. On the surface, it showed people eating rats, and that's not something you see everyday. On the surface it was all about "surviving" long enough on a desert island to win the prize. A "Lord of the Flies" in real time, streaming video... almost. The show ended with some guy who apparently no one liked winning the grand prize of that currently mythical amount of a MILLION dollars. Wow... a MILLION. His face was on page 1 of the New York Daily News the next day. I thought page 1 of any newspaper is supposed to be dedicated to real news, but obviously I must be mistaken. Anyone who buys that bogus rag should cancel their subscription just on principle alone. They have insulted your intelligence with that headline, just as they did by broadcasting the show. Some might think that I'm being too hard on the show, criticizing it unfairly because, after all, it was just a game - a harmless form of entertainment for the millions of people who have nothing better to do with their time. Maybe that's true, but before you tune out, reach into your bag of tricks and pull out the pattern indicator. It's right there in your bag of tricks next to your tv remote control, which is right next to your VCR remote control, which is right next to your cable tv remote control. This device, however, lets you string together various elements that seem unrelated to form a clearer picture on how we're being "programmed" by remote control (just think of what "remote control" really means). Point your device at several of the latest game show crazes, just to name a few, and let's see what we get: 1) Survivor 2) Greed 3) Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 4) Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? 5) Big Brother Any bells going off in our heads? If not, push the red button on your Pattern Indicator device (the button that says, "Warning") and see what happens. All our illusions disappear. The worst of it rears an ugly head, and the best of it makes us queasy. What a wonderful device! The first pattern that we notice is that none of the "programs" are very interesting. In fact, they're quite inane. Numbers 1 and 5 are various forms of voyeuristic fetish, stemming from the fact that we've been told that other people's lives are infinitely more interesting than our own. And through years of advertising bombardment telling us that it's so, we tend to believe that someone eating rats is more interesting than anything else you could be doing at that moment. And although these shows claim to be more real than other shows, they nevertheless fragment our notions of reality. Does anyone we know eat rats? And what's the likelihood of being deserted on an island? Actually, if they wanted to keep it closer to reality, they could have put those poor people in a nuclear bomb shelter for several months, but that would be coming too close for comfort, wouldn't it? Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are various forms of dream fulfillment, becoming immensely rich in the span of a 60-minute extravaganza. Watching another person win lots of money transfers the joy to a happy audience. This is what they think will happen. Does it? How do you feel after? Are you fulfilled? No matter, as long as you sat through their advertising blitzes between moments of fleeting fantasy. Anyway, it keeps us busy dreaming what new products we would buy with our newly found wealth. The second pattern we notice is that we are told, in an indirect way, that it's okay to do almost anything for money, as long as the amount is sufficient. With a title like "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", people are answering, "ME!!!..." The show itself is rather innocuous. Winning is based on one's knowledge. But it's not the content of the show that really matters. What's really important is the slogan, "Who wants to be filthy rich by answering a few questions?" In the instant wealth, lottery mania, lawsuit riddled land we live in, it seems only right that people should become millionaires for knowing how many colors there are on the Costa Rican flag. And just as it's easy to become a millionaire by luck, you can also do it by marriage. Of course the producers of that show were red-faced when their darling man turned out to be a sociopath, but what were they expecting? The "program" Greed, is by far the worst of them all, though. Look no further than the title for the glorification of money and the programming of our minds to believe that, by any means necessary (even giving someone the royal screw), the pursuit of wealth is our highest aim. It seems like now it's okay to double-cross our friends and coworkers, as long as the stakes are high enough. It's also okay, because everyone is watching them do it, and no one is really that appalled by it. Since millions of people are watching it, it must be popular, and since it's popular, it must be okay. But the third pattern that we notice is, by far, the most insidious and dark of them all. Point your indicator device at numbers 1 and 5, and push the red button again. Here's what we see: driving most deeply into the consciousness of viewers is the underlying metaphor of choosing who should "survive", and who should be "removed". Again, this concept seems okay because millions of people seemingly think it's okay. On one level it seems harmless. People say, "It's only a show... relax." No folks, it's more than a show. It's a PROGRAM. Don't forget that word. Let's turn our attention to Big Brother for a moment. First of all... what a name. Did we think they could make it sound so benign in our wildest dreams? Considering the fact that, everyday of our lives, our privacy is being eroded by the false god of convenience, we'd be a little hesitant to be so agreeable to the idea. But remember, it's just a harmless "game" show, right? I remember when game shows asked people to work to solve linguistic riddles or trivia questions. Now it's, "be the last one in the house (i.e. Bomb Shelter, Community, etc) and a million dollars is ours." At a time when population reduction is on the tables of all major world governments, what better way to make us agreeable to such notions than through a "harmless" game show? It seems like I'm stretching the point, but if we don't think that population reduction is one of the proposed solutions to the runaway environmental problems we are facing in the coming generation, then we are seriously mistaken. So now we've trivialized the removal of individuals from society because the acquisition of wealth cannot be spread between the sad lot of castaways. Misfits are produced, and they are simply made to disappear. They are metaphorically wiped away, never to be thought of again, as if they were executed ritualistically in some pagan lottery of sacrifice. The power of suggestion is a great enemy, and if we're not conscious of how it works, it becomes a great invisible enemy, too. Just a few thoughts to consider. More to come in Part II ... Why not join the rest of us on the inside and get all of Goofball.com?
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blah (0 replies) started by Cantrell79 (09.09.2000 1:04:07 AM EST) Well, as ignorant and compliant as some may seem, I do agree with you, Crick. -Cantrell79

blah (0 replies) started by Cantrell79 (09.09.2000 1:03:25 AM EST) Well, as ignorant and compliant as some may seem, I do agree with you, Crick. -Cantrell79

may.... (0 replies) started by bat (09.08.2000 8:32:30 AM EST) the strongest survive & the meek shall not inherit the earth.... Cuz they're pussies! Love your country,Question your government.

get a life (0 replies) started by spoiler (09.07.2000 10:03:02 AM EST) Is this really how you spend your time? Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, cuz you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

again... (0 replies) started by crick (09.06.2000 7:15:13 PM EST) Spoiler... I don't know why I continue to carry on this pointless (or is it?) conversation, but let me have just one more chance. What I said in part 1 (yes, there's another coming) of my rant has almost nothing to do with the quality of shows. But I guess you need to be bonked over the head with an idea if you're gonna get the point. Sorry, my fault. Analyzing a "program" according to its psycho-social ramifications is a lot different than just saying, "gee... that sucks." And if you're gonna say that it isn't worth the debate, then fine. Just tell me something that is worth the debate... if there is anything worthy of a one, anyway. I'm really not sure that there is one (no truth out there... only opinion), but it's better than wrapping oneself up in the ignorance that pervades.

LMAO (0 replies) started by spoiler (09.06.2000 4:47:22 PM EST) apparently I failed in making that last response a bit shorter, oh well, that's funny Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, cuz you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

round 2 (0 replies) started by spoiler (09.06.2000 4:46:15 PM EST) This one I'll make a bit shorter, I type fast I think fast, short comments can me made long, I sometimes choose to do so as well. After considering that, touche. But to devote the kind of time you spent on that compared to my 10 seconds of response, there's really no comparison. The subject of quality tv shows is not worth the debate, as you can find something wrong with all programming, tv never has been much of an educational tool, take care. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, cuz you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Ha Ha (0 replies) started by crick (09.06.2000 7:02:52 AM EST) hey spoiler... I agree with what you said about letting people dig their own graves, but you need to increase your attention span a bit more. What YOU think is irrelevent might just be a little more than that. Anyway, I didn't watch any of those programs, either, but I guess I didn't make that clear enough. By the way, I also thought it was funny that you said you couldn't waste your time reading, but you did manage to write a long enough comment. Guess I got to you... guess you felt compelled to waste your time criticizing ME. Anyway, your pithy quote about dragons is a laugher. Sorry, maybe you'd like to be one of the cowering "sheeople", but I choose differently. I was just wondering, too, how you waste YOUR time. Read any good books lately??? It's also funny that you think a few paragraphs worth of thought is "a lot of talking." Perhaps stringing a few coherent ideas together constitutes a great effort for you. Not for me.

I watched survivor... (0 replies) started by Leary (09.06.2000 1:49:04 AM EST) you need to relax dude, take a little less caffeine into your system, look back, and Laugh your ass off at how much time you just spent yappin about that shit. Oh ya, bye the way, I liked it....and in comparison to all the sick fucks out there who enjoy Shit/Piss/Toilet cams....I feel ok with my decision to tell you that I enjoyed Survivor. Cant wait for the outback one....Wooohoooo! It will Get your Dingo in a knot matey! HAHAHA Leary's First Rule of Pessimism: If at first you dont succeed, give up, you obviously were not good at it in the first place.

Excellent! (0 replies) started by RedNeckedTulsan (09.05.2000 5:10:15 PM EST) Crick i see what you have seen in sport too. The games mutate to cater for teh ever increasing attention span of viewers. NFL never runs for more tha a few seconds and we have a break for a commercial. We are programmed to think this is a good thing. Hell one guy here even commented that he could not read read your whole rant! Attention wandered i bet. There is a famous somebody(i wish i could remember whom) that claims that you can tell a nations ideals and goals by looking at their advertisements. I believe that is true and very very scary.

wtf?? (0 replies)   started by spoiler (09.05.2000 3:38:14 PM EST) okay, I'm really sorry, but I just can't read all that about how some dude is pissed off about something that irrelevent. Here's what I have to say to you: Practice what you preach and pay it no mind. All the talking you just did could have been fit into yet another insignificant boring show. I never watched a single episode of Survivor or any other of those shows, so why would you waste your time criticizing them? Let the drones follow where they will, you just keep an eye out for yourself. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, cuz you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

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