Sleepless Nights

I sometimes have problems sleeping. During these nights I normally will try and read, but sometimes my level of concentration is not there so I turn on the TV. I watched this preview of the latest “reality TV” show on Bravo. NYC Prep is the name. It is about teenagers in exclusive schools in New York City. All but one comes from very wealthy families. The absolute depravity of these kids is really disheartening. One of the girls on this show has parents who live in the Hamptons and come into the city to see their two children one night a week. She is 15 or 16 years old and basically lives on her own.

These kids all have fake ids, spend money like it is going out of style, and hook up with virtual strangers. One of the boys is 18 and seems like he is an arrogant SOB who has no direction for his life. These are kids that have every advantage and seem like they don’t realize how much better off they are than most other people. Granted they are young, but it is a truly sad commentary.

Bravo may as well just change their name to trash TV, because the vast majority of the programming is these shows. I will admit I am oddly addicted to Project Runway. I can’t really give you a reasonable explanation as to why, except I love watching the crazy outfits made out plants and recycled materials. But even on this show, the nastier and meaner you are it seems like the further you go in the competition, regardless of your talent. While watching this I was thinking what does this say about our society?

Are we really the people you see on those reality shows? Do we let our 16 year old children raise themselves? Is this our whole society or does Bravo just have a knack of finding the most bizarre examples of families? After all, the Maury show has been on for years. Jerry Springer has to find those people somewhere. I am not even sure if these two shows are still on, but they were on for a long time. As a conservative I am a firm believer in personal freedom. People can make the choices that are best for them and their families as they see fit as long as they are not breaking the law. But then you run into the issue of who is going to govern. After all, they are just me and you. Is that who is running our society? Are the guests from the Springer show the future leaders of our country? That was the thought that was running through my head while watching this. No wonder I can’t sleep.