Can Americans Distinguish Between Fantasy and Reality?
Reality shows are everywhere but are they real? Are these contrived and staged situations really connected to reality? It would seem that they are floating free from all reality like objects the astronauts accidentally released from their space craft. They are more like microcosmic little episodes of something like Looney Tunes with Bugs and Elmer replaced by the hip, the young and the cool.
In the sixties the former head of the Federal Communications Commission was nearly tarred and feathered for saying that TV was little more than a 'vast wasteland.' Today anyone can sit with a TV remote control and click through hundreds of TV offerings after which the term 'vast wasteland' seems all too mild. The latest and greatest craze is now something touted as reality TV. Exuberant fans, the fairy touched and those who still think the world is flat are mesmerized by these shows. Sane people and people who actually live on the planet earth are not so enamored. You may see some of the crazed flying past you toward the TV with a glazed look in their eyes as you sigh deeply looking for the paper, a good book or just about any other diversion. So are these shows real? Do they contribute anything to our way of life, our culture? Do they make even the slightest contribution to ethics, morality, spirituality, and let's throw in mental health? The 'real' answer is an unequivocal'no.
Call me old fashioned but I still think of survivors as those who made it through the Battle of the Bulge, Auschwitz, and Japanese interment camps in the Philippines. My heart doesn't burn when I see setup scenes where survivors have to dive down and bring up a treasure chest, eat bugs and walk on fire just to become millionaires. The only thing that burns is the greed in the hearts of the contestants. And that is the point, as well as the philosophy or message the show leaves behind as its legacy or lesson. I have warned parents for over three decades that sex, nudity and violence are not the only thing that we need to fear in movies and TV. Each show or movie leaves a philosophy of life in its wake however pronounced or faint it may be.
The philosophy left behind by shows like survivor or the real Gilligan's Island isn't very hard to notice. Greed, selfishness, betrayals, avarice, and a list of humanity's not so glowing traits too long to mention here are what it is so easy to spot. Add to that, the very cornball idea that this is 'reality' and you have a picture of the American mentality for this hour in time. I am far more concerned about that, than who is going to be rescued off the island first.
In every generation and in every major nation of the world a pattern has emerged. Americans who constantly remind themselves that if they don't learn from their past they are bound to repeat it, are not noticing this pattern. It doesn't need to be our past that we learn from; someone else's will do fine. Certain things always emerged throughout the history of the world that is obviously similar in nations at the peak of their power. Spectator sports and events, pet worship, homosexuality, immorality, preoccupation with sex and self, these are the usual fare. So when will we learn? It seems that like the grand kingdoms and nations before us we will learn at exactly the same time they did'when it is too late.
That a writer or producer can sit with a group of like minded cohorts and dream up this kind of television ga ga is the evidence that we have fallen victim to the same temptation as other nations. A temptation just like those Christ endured when he walked the earth has a setup, a situation that makes it a temptation. A high pinnacle for Christ to throw himself off, or a stone to turn into bread by his unique powers so he could eat. The setup for this country is the same as it was for all the kingdoms and domains before it. The hardest thing for any individual, group or nation to survive still seems to be its own success. The prevailing condition for this temptation is clearly stated in the following verse of the Bible. 'Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49 KJV The setup is plenty of goods, plenty of free time, spiced up by a good helping of pride and your ready for the oven.
The question is not whether the castaways will be rescued or who will be the best survivor but, how can we survive as a nation when we can't, or don't think we even need to differentiate between fantasy and reality. More than an exclamation to appendage our frequent exasperations is the phrase, 'God help us.'
About the author: Rev Bresciani is from New Orleans La and the author of'Hook line and Sinker or What Has Your Church Been Teaching You, PublishAmerica 2005 and'An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ, Xulon Press 2005. His website is, http://americanprophet.org