Dying for 5 Minutes of Fame

In my post concerning Duck Dynasty, I made reference to Buckwild, one of MTV's reality shows. This past week, we learned of the death of the primary star of that show, Shain Gandee. At 21 years of age, he got liquored up and decided to go off-road "mudding" at 3 o'clock on a Sunday morning. Two days later, he and two others were found dead in his Bronco stuck in a mud hole in the very "holler" where he was born and raised. What an unbelievable waste!

For the love of Merv Griffin! What in the world has happened? I cannot put a finger on when this all started. But the decline has been slow and gradual. Afternoon talk shows that were so "scandalous" when they discussed Equal Rights or Abortion have eroded into some of the most disgusting displays of human depravity I've ever seen and folks are lining up to humiliate themselves in order to get their few minutes of fame!

In the end, it will ALL be about the money! Isn't it always? Does anyone in the television industry really give a popcorn fart about anyone they have on these shows? I seriously doubt it. And this includes the Diva herself who took an absolute baffoon out of obscurity and made him a multi-millionaire by simply having VICTIMS tell the most outlandish things about themselves and then having him ask, in his best Larry the Cable Guy accent, "Well, how's that working for ya?" Really? That's your expert response to this dilemma?

Poor, uneducated, and naive people volunteer to go on national television for paternity tests, shocking revelations, and fist fights. All this, so they can invite their friends over for a watching party when the show airs and see themselves on TV.

And that's just the talk shows! The reality shows are way more disgusting. These shows are leaving dead bodies in their wakes and nobody seems to care. I can think of another kind, caring, compassionate doctor whose dead body count is now up to nearly half a dozen because he preys on celebrities whose fame has faded and convinces them that TELEVISING very intimate and personal details of  the rehab process is a actually a GOOD  idea! Is it not obvious, to even an absolute moron, that broadcasting the detox and recovery process of a drug addict or alcoholic is such an egregious and pathetic idea that even Satan himself would not consider it?

Shain Gandee and the five or six people from the other show may have died anyway. But no one will ever convince me that the influence of money-grubbing TV producers had ANY positive effect on their lives. These shows' producers reward outlandish behavior and very intimate disclosures. In the case of Shain Gandee, they benevolently paid for the funeral. The survivors meanwhile, are left standing by the "debt-free" casket trying to put the pieces back together.

I don't know if Merv Griffin would approve or not! But it makes me want to VOMIT!