America's Disturbing Future - MTV

To steal another quote from The World Is Flat:

In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears... Young people there hang from the rafters and scalp tickets just to hear him speak... In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears--and that is our problem.

A problem with the American educational system is that people are increasingly taking the "fun" career path. They aren't interested in hearing what Bill Gates has to say, they want to hear what body part Britney is flashing this week. More and more kids are starting to think that greatness can be achieved without hard work. Eventually, many of them will reach a point of dissapointment.

Rather they wan't to find a job that is less demanding of them and allows for more personal time. Since we spend the majority of our lives at work, why not find something that we love doing? The problem with that thinking is people don't realize that it sometimes takes hard work before you start enjoying something. For example, you cant enjoy all the vastness of science without understanding the basics and to understand the basics it takes time and commitment. They want immediate satisfaction.

I attribute a lot of the laziness and stupidity in our society to a single source: MTV (well, not just MTV, but MTV could be the spokesperson for the movement). MTV shows, most notably The Real World, is a cancer to our brains and trains vulnerable/impressionable people to act and think like bimbo's. Since when do people sit around and whine all day? Since MTV and other likes taught us that it is OK to act that way.

Wondering why people just "have to watch the show," I asked my girlfriend and sister. They both gave me the same answer: it is entertaining. OK, it might be funny to watch people act like morons but the shows purpose is not to entertain, they are clearly trying to educate. Little life lessons are thrown into overdramatic situations and presents a false sense of what real life is like.

Here is the way a "Real Worlder" thinks: My sister just bought 3 sweatshirts and a pair of sweatpants for $460 from bloomingdales from some new line that she claims "everyone will be wearing, they just don't know about it yet." She was in denial when I told her that it costed no more than $20 to make the sweatshirt she was holding. She also has transmission and steering problems with her car but she insists that her recent purchase was a wise investment. I told her not to rip the price tags off incase she changes her mind and hopefully she will gain some sense and bring a piece or two back. I understand that it is possible for her to hold a higher value on the sweatshirts than I, but her argument is that she doesn't have any winter clothing. She says that every winter. Some people need to learn the true value of a dollar and the way hype/marketing works.

Dave Chapelle did a spoof on The Real World called The Real Mad World. Here is a clip from his show: