“It’s a show. It’s not the end of Western Civilization.  It’s chewing gum.”

                        Jerry Springer

Frieze of gladiator battling lion

My husband has the best turns of phrase, including “Jerry Springer Nation.”  That’s what he calls today’s society, and I concur.  We are the land of “I can do what I want,” where many have no regard as to how their attitudes and behavior may and does harm others.  Why are there so many reality TV shows where stupid, disgusting and unethical people are rewarded financially and otherwise (Jersey Shore, Keeping Up With the Kardashisans).  Hell, if someone named Snooki can pen A Shore Thing, have her own line  of clothing and perfume, and travel to Italy promoting her show, why can’t we all be famous?  Is this the End of an Empire? 

I am not immune to the lure of reality TV.  I was perversely addicted to Hoarders and still catch a re-run from time to time.  I have also found myself immersed in Intervention, Confessions:  Animal Hoarding, and Bridezillas (a few months prior to my wedding).   So I have sunk into that abyss too.  Schadenfreude.  Shame on me.

With the horrendous state of the economy and ever-increasing homelessness, joblessness and utter despair, with American citizens committing suicide and killing their children (Rachelle Grimmer in Laredo, Texas), something has got to give.  Perhaps revolution is the solution, or riots and pitchforks in the street.  For years I have wondered when the riots would begin.

Then came the Occupy movement, people from all walks of life banding together for a common cause, with good intentions, fighting for the least of their brothers and sisters, not the wealthiest and slimiest.  It filled me and many with hope, and others with disdain, but it was something.  A something that spread from Wall Street across the nation and into other parts of the world.  Something is better than nothing.

I suppose my hope for 2012, as outrageous and pipe dreamish as it may sound, is to bring an end to the Jerry Springer mentality.

2011 was a rotten year for me, personally, but my suffering pales in comparison to that of so many others.  To name a few:

·        Americans who have lost their homes and jobs

·        Those who have lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan

·        Those whose family members have died timely or untimely deaths

·        Young girls who have been disfigured in Afghanistan on their way to school by acid-throwing men and boys who promulgate the belief that women are less than equal, less than human, in fact

·        Children forced into sexual slavery

·        Boys raped by a well-respected, trusted coach Jerry Sandusky. 

I can go on and on.  The point is, misery is rampant, evil prevails.

The next step is live executions.   At the end of the Roman Empire, theatre degenerated into its own kind of reality TV with live torture, murder and sex acts. 

I hope we haven’t sunk that low.  I hope we can recover before it’s too late.