Faith in Humanity - Out the Window
 

Thought I'd start my first thread, about a topic that had been festering in my mind for a while.

I mean, I like to think of myself as rather upbeat and positive thinking. I like to believe that people as a whole are generally decent.

Then one of my roommates brings home a copy of 'Cheaters - season 1' home. It was lent to him with much recommendation from a co-worker of his.
(Backround: Cheaters, basically Candid camera on those participating in infidelity.) It's not the premise of the show I dislike, that being a small part, but the real 'winners' they show. It just causes me to shake my head and wonder why it's getting so warm, and why are we in this handbasket?

It's in my house now! Argh! And what excellent timing being near Valentines day and all. I imagine it's relatively popular, you know, 'cause my roommate says it's in it's FOURTH SEASON! :stressed:

Well, it's what the public will watch. Anyone else have other atrocities they would like to share? Or how about things that restore feelings that people are generally not horrible "bastard-covered bastards with bastard filling" (-Dr. Cox, Scrubs).

So glad I don't watch much (any) broadcast television.

We humans are pretty stupid. Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane. New Orleans had levees built to withstand a Category 3. Katrina wiped them out, and was one of, I believe, four of its class in that year alone. Guess what the government is building to protect the rebuilt city from new flooding.

Well in a way, its merely our survival instinct kicking in, albiet peverted from its original purpose.

It's instinctual to pry into the misfortune of others. This isn't because we, as a race, suffer from self esteem issues; but it's a method of learning.

Lets say a family member died from a Heart Attack. People will most likely ask how they died, and try to pry into what caused it (IE lack of exercise, poor eating habits, family history and so forth) By doing this we are alerting ourselves to the potential hazards that has already claimed a fellow human being.

Now, about the shows.

The instinct for prying is not solely limited to deaths. It can have social implications. Lets say you watch a person make a complete fool of themselves infront of a crowd. Now, ask yourself, would you do that? Chances are you would answer no. You would analyze the scene, and compare it to previous experience, and draw connections. This in turn would allow you to avoid future incidents along the similar vein.

This would be normal, and a good thing.

But thanks to the media its been peverted (no not kinky peverted, the other one). The media sells shows based on ratings. Obviously they aren't going to back a show that nobody is going to watch.

And what sells in TV? Sex and Violence.

If you notice that many shows today, especially shows that are a series, they often emphasise the losers as much, if not more, than the winners. Take American Idol for instance. They have one judge that constantly berates the contestants that he comes off as a complete jackass. Granted there is some tough love in the music business. Some people just dont have the voice for it, but you dont say "You sound like you're strangling a cat." to a person who is halfway through the contest. But he can, because they will actually promote those whos singing is subpar. Just to make the remarks.

In this way, people who lose are not given the option to lose gracefully. When a person reams you about why you had to be fired, bordering on harrassment, where else would you find this kind of treatment? You've had your dignity stripped, not only before you, but others, in a blatant show of disrespect. In the normal world this would be considered abusive. Any employer knows that if you are going to fire a person, what you announce to the world, is that they are fired. What you tell the guy in your office is the details.

By this time, we've become junkies of the prying instinct. "Oh, look at what she did with that guy behind her boyfriends back! Oh wait he was with that other girl..." Or, "I wonder how that judge is going to chew out that person?" We start anticipating these events, and their importance to us no longer becomes that of learning but just the simple act of watching another human being's misfortune.

The media knows this works, and has no intention to change it. By pandering to our base instincts they have us hook, line, and sinker.

Now, I'm not proffessor in human psychology, but this is how I see it. *shrug*

Personally I find those kind of shows stupid.

I find 98% of all TV garbage

@ Wiz: I disagree. We humans ARE naturally perversely drawn to the misfortune of others. If some poor soul slips on a ketchup packet in high school, landing on his @$$ and ending up covered in food, you'll get maybe one person to help him up. What does everyone else do? Laugh. Until it's them with TP stuck to their foot or barn door hanging open. Then it's suddenly not so funny. And we all do it. We might, at best, be ashamed later, but at the time, that poor girl sitting on a fork is the funniest thing in the world.

Edit: By all of this, I mean it's not so much about education as humans being human. Not good or evil, but definitely imperfect.

I am restating this previous statement as a way of highlighting its unassailable factuality and illuminating poignance. (i.e.: QFT)

Yeah, I never truly liked those types of shows. I usually just don't watch t.v. (I got the intarwebs instead!), but I like to think that the people that make these shows aren't monsters, they aren't devoid of human morals by putting people in these situations, rather they just pack it away so that they can reach high ratings and such in peace. Of coarse, the feelings of disgust over the trash they produced may come later, but I'm not one to know if that's true.

EDIT: I don't know how things are where you live, bluestarultor, but where I'm from only a select few would laugh at this girl, and if so she might just laugh with them. It may not be that noone wants to help, just that everybody is too friggin' shy to do anything, and laughing is the only response they're comfortable with. Thank goodness I'm not one of those types of people... and just for your knowledge, don't be afraid to not censor yourself, just as long as your whole post isn't a cuss-bag (new word?).

It's not so much that humans are stupid as it is that governments are cheap, greedy, and not always practical. It would make sense to build levees that could withstand a category five hurricane...but that also costs money, and government likes to get money and never, ever, let it go out of its pockets again (think Haley from Order of the Stick).

It would also make sense to not build/rebuild cities in areas below sea level, but those cities are pretty cool and historical treasures, so we do rebuild...and hope that the hurricanes stay under category three.

Well, that is a good point.
 

They do need to make thier money, and it's what sells.

Perhaps it's just the shock of seeing what passes for television these days. Well, not really that. It was more the actions of the people in the show.

Sure, I'm not naive enough to think that no one cheats on people they 'care for', or that thier feelings toward someone will never die out, but the little I saw of this show, the absolute lack of remorse that the confronted showed, the complete lack of respect, shown by all, the confronter and the confronted... Just makes me wonder how people get to that stage, how they can do that. That and the thought someone would want to have this filmed and broadcast on television, I just couldn't leave the room fast enough.

What SquirrelWizard says about why people would watch it makes sense. I worked in the EMS for a while, and understand people's facination with sickness, death, and accidents, but I guess I was looking more at the people involved in regards to that show.

Ah well, what do I know. Havn't been there, just seen it happen, so I guess it's hard for me to see how one's relationship can crash that badly, I mean, badly enough to want to broadcast on national television, and the other things that were involved.

Then again, it could be about the money for those involved too, which is definatly not helping our case.

After seeing that sh...stuff... it just felt like my head exploaded. I should be jaded to this by now. Perfect time of the year to observe this stuff.

People suck. It's as simple as that. You can't trust anyone, so don't. DON'T TRUST ANYONE! The only people you can trust are those in which you are in a situation of mutual assured destruction.

This show shows people for what they are. Lieing, manipulative, sacks of putrid meat and bone. So I can safely say, that people suck. Turn on the news, and what do you see? More reasons to have no faith in humanity. C-span? ineffectual represenatives screwing the people they are supposed to be representing.

So in closing.
People suck. Don't trust anyone. Don't expect people to tell you the truth. Do expect them to screw you over. Do expect them to lie to you.

Yasee, this is exactly why I don't watch the news. It turns you into a negative and depressing person.

Not putting trust in anyone, only expecting the worst in people, is a horrible way to live in my opinion. I stand on somewhat untouched ground on this subject, being of a younger age, but I believe that you should trust anyone and everyone unless they give you a reason to doubt their sanity/kindness/trust. I do this, and how am I doing? I have many friends, I'm a generally happier person, and people like me more.

This is somewhat my feeling on a similiar subject of how "cruel" the world is. A lot of people that are asses defend their position on the grounds that "this is what the real world is like." This may be true, but only because these people make it that way. Just because the real world may be mean, isn't an excuse to be mean to others.

Back to the subject of trusting people, assuming that all people suck, that all people want to screw you over, that all people are only looking out for themselves is pure ignorance. If I'm wrong, then tell how people like Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, and so on can exist. Tell me, if I'm wrong, then why are there organizations that strive to help others (care2, UNAIDS, WWF "For a living planet", etc.)?

Simply, the world may be a bad place at some time, and in some places, but believing that all humans are flawed as such is incorrect, and I pity anyone that truly believes this.