Reality TV and the Modern Day Hell's Angels

"To see the Hell's Angels as caretakers of the old "individualist" tradition "that made this country great" is only a painless way to get around seeing them for what they really are--not some romantic leftover, but the first wave of a future that nothing in our history has prepared us to cope with. The Angels are prototypes. Their lack of education has not only rendered them completely useless in a highly technical economy, but it has also given them the leisure to cultivate a powerful resentment…and to translate it into a destructive cult which the mass media insists on portraying as a sort of isolated oddity, a temporary phenomenon that will shortly become extinct now that it's been called to the attention of the police" - Hunter S. Thompson in Hell's Angels

The American tradition of supporting the underdog has apparently run so low on candidates, that it has resorted to picking up nobodies off the street.. "Everyone wants to be on TV" is the saying, but the truth is that not everyone deserves it. The idea that there won't be consequences from eliminating the difficulty in becoming a celebrity or that nothing will stem from plotless, minding numbing TV, is dangerous ignorance.

Raising cast members of Reality TV to the pedestal of stardom is the evolution of the same attitude that took the Hell's Angels from incarcerated to infamous in the 60's. The same attitude that coddled a group of non-contributing malcontents to commit increasingly violent acts is the same pervasive influence in our current pop culture. One, that insists on worshipping the unearned celebrity and overall lack of talent in no-frills, no-acting, no-effort television stars.

The stars of these television shows, and I use that term loosely, are not the embodiment of the American success story, but an increasingly dangerous sect of our society. The by-product of our fame obsession has been the creation of ignorant, worthless ex (and current) reality stars. The problem however, is that no one has informed them of their worthlessness. In fact, TV only serves to give validity to their persona, and existence.

People seem to be under the impression that this monster is only a trend, that reality TV is a fad. They couldn't be more wrong, because it's not, by any means, a fleeting entity. Try looking at the ratings.

CBS' Survivor, in its 9th season, is still bringing in 7.6 million viewers per episode. Downhill slide, indeed.

Like Hunter said, the media likes to downplay it as a temporary phenomenon, a denial of the invincibility of the monster they created. With 4 reality shows in the Top 10 rankings for the week of April 25th to May 1st, I doubt its going anywhere.

Article Author: ChaunceyBillups

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