This week's topic is the Jerry Springer Show
I came across a flier today while sifting through the junk mail on my kitchen table. Usually I don't even bother to look at the various mail order lingerie catalogs, sweepstakes entry forms and "Have you seen this missing child?" cards. Today, however, a hand printed piece of paper caught my attention. It was our community news letter. I live in a tiny little town in Southern Illinois, a barely noticeable cluster of houses, mostly old homes and old people.
Brilliantly emblazoned in ball point pen across the first stapled photocopy wsa the title, "Jerry Springer Must Be Stopped!!!" I was intrigued by the melodramatic tone of the title, so I continued to read. It seems that the retired population of my town, which accounts for nearly all of it, strongly opposes the content and format of "The Jerry Springer Show", a popular late night talk show. You all have seen it, right? I've been watching it for years, and have witnessed its downward spiral into the perverse, yet profitable genre of lower class American entertainment. It includes such taboo topics as, "You Are My Little Sister, Leave My Man Alone!", "I Know I'm Dressed as a Woman, But Will You Marry Me?, and "Six Hundred Pound Angry Mom". Basically, it revolves around obscene language, physical violence, and partial nudity. An average show contains about three censorship bleeps per minute. The dialog sounds more like morse code than a television program.
So they decided to do something about it. They have placed the responsibility of moral protector on its agenda and they plan to rid the world of this blight on society, free of charge.
This is where my opinion comes in. (still with me?)
The persecution of television talk shows has gone too far. Religious and family oriented social circles nation wide have banded together to ruin a perfectly good source of entertainment. I have no problem with Jerry Springer. His show capitalizes on a segment of the human psyche that most people refuse to admit exists. "The Jerry Springer Show" and its many clones are the direct result of a nation without anything more interesting to discuss.
Springer gets ratings by giving the people what they want. It is based on the same principle as staring at car accidents and watching courtroom dramas. People are fascinated by the problems of others, especially when it involves distracting them from their own. Springer is driven by the same urge that forces one to pass around a gallon of chunky milk to make sure that everyone thinks it has gone bad. When Jerry Springer brings 13 members of the KKK onto his stage to be verbally taunted by the audience, it makes the viewers feel as though they are superior members of the human race. When society views two young women biting and tearing each other's clothes off, they can think to themselves, "I would never do anything like that on national TV, Helen, bring me another beer! buuuuuurp!" It gives the general public a warm and pleasant feeling to know that they only need to watch a few hours of tv to get their daily dose of man's inhumanity to man.
America is not in immediate danger of serious global warfare. It is not
fighting to save the country from absorption by another culture. In fact, it is
diligently imposing its culture on every other nation in the world. Lower
middle class America is scrambling for material for conversation. Springer
offers relief from the ennui and drudgery of the average working class American.
They come home from their underpaying, unchallenging vocations, nuke a
preservative saturated microwave dinner, and plant themselves in front of the
television. The last thing they are looking for is another source of boredom.
Maybe, just maybe, if more United States Postal Workers watched "Three foot men and the
Women Who Love Them", the world would be a more peaceful place.
