Freaks, Fear, and Reality

At the height of the "reality tv" craze, NBC aquired a little show titled "Fear Factor." The origional objective of the show was to have contestants do 3 stunts that would cause fear. They'd get eliminated slowly by how well they did (or didn't do) the stunt.

Suprisingly, a few years later, the show is still here. However, it's a bit different now. Somehow the show lost the "fear" part and has become more of a freak show. "Lets see who can do the grossest thing and then give them 50 grand." It is mesmerizing, though, to see how much people will do for money.

Today's 90 minute special started off innocently enough. Hanging upside-down from a helicopter trying to grab flags. Then the next stunt brought it up a notch. They poked ten needles through each contestant's arm. Blood trickled down thier arm. It was intense. But could they make it worse? Yes, of course. The poor contestants had to eat maggoty, old cheese to advance. The first guy tried, but after a bite or two stopped and walked off. The 2nd guy suffered, but he got it all down. The 3rd guy didn't even bother. He took a stand and said the money wasn't worth making an ass of himself over.

But, that's the point of the show, now. They have to keep getting more extreme to make sure they keep viewer's attention. Now, that's all they do on that show. Make people to nasty stuff. Whoever does the nastiest stuff gets a bit of money while the rest of America laughs at them. I can see this trend progressing. Soon we'll be killing people on live tv. Then it'll be like the gladiators. People killing each other for sport because America's attention won't be caught by people trying to eat maggot filled cheese.

Maybe we should try and stop the trend.

peace.

Article Author: The Theory

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