The Illusion of Reality.

One thing that foreigners notice about Americans is their love affair with the "illusion of reality." The semi - scripted "reality" shows on television are only a symptom of what's going on in this society. Everywhere you look you can find people turning away from what is truly real in favor of some other fantasy.

Today we have a grand illusion undone and brought to our living rooms by way of mother nature and one of her hurricanes. Can the widening gap between the "have nots, the haves and the have mores" that is shoved under the table be any more striking than the images we are seeing from the New Orleans evacuation? Rarely do we get to look beyond the hype and the spin to see what is really going on in America as we can with the ravages of Katrina. We don't want to believe that 60% of a major city could be living just above or just below the poverty line.You can feel the gasp of stunned people everywhere who are so amazed to witness the failed and lackluster response to the disaster by the administration when everyone knew far in advance what the potential for a hurricane like this would be. Why the surprise? What's going on in this country depends on who's reality you are aligned with. Red state reality or blue state reality. Black or white. Gay or straight. Rich or poor. TV News network A, B or C or PBS. (Before Bush took it over) Whether we sit in the Palisades, South Central LA, the Hamptons, or Washington we must now face the question. How could 500,000 American citizens be abandoned for five days under these circumstances in their own country? No other question needs to be asked in order to understand what is happening in this country.

I think that television has a lot to do with how people feel and what they believe to be true. The so called "reality" shows, which are anything but real, are largely based on the mean spirited aspects of Americans. We are not only dumbing down the sensibility of the population but encouraging an "us versus them" attitude everywhere. The characters are cast to be good looking, articulate, educated, when the general population is no where near representative. The story lines are created out of things people say in controlled circumstances then transcribed and concocted by writers who make up a story. The situations are so far from what is actually happening in our society or what is actually happening in peoples lives its a joke. Granted, this is "entertainment" however lets call it what it is. What ever it is, it's not "reality."

The deeper problem for America however is that Americans have lulled themselves into their un-real fantasy world and are increasingly ill equipped to face the realities of their lives. and things are a much worse than we think. Its becoming easier to manipulated the general population whether its politicians,terrorists, astrologists, con men, pseudo new age gurus, Wal Mart, evangelists, marketers, drug pushers....producers of any media...etc. etc. American are losing the ability to think for themselves, stand up for what is right, speak up for what it wrong and the character to do the right thing.

Unfortunately, this great country, filled with great people has lost its way. Leaders are not leading, special interests, self interest and greed runs the country. More importantly other countries with longer range plans like China are slowly, patiently taking it all away.

Other than education, which takes a generation, its television that could make a difference. If fantasy was fantastic and reality was ...real, perhaps people would come down to earth. Perhaps in the television world a few more producers would not succumb to the seduction of easy ratings with base derivative shows in favor of more creative real world drama ideas. There is plenty of it around. Just go down to New Orleans....What's left of it.

Lets get real!