Okay folks, Forbes recently released their latest list of the richest people in the world and Judge Judy comes in at 13th.  Her wealth is estimated at $95 Million dollars.  Her syndication royalties alone are $20 Million plus per year.  She was even added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame early last year. What does this say about our society in which we satisfy our daily entertainment appetite by parading dysfunctional poor people in front of a judge who berates them for bad choices? On top of this, she frequently exposes their lies in cross-examination and humiliates them in the process — all, at their expense, and in public, of course.  These are people who are at each other’s throats for claims less than $5,000.  And we have been rewarding this behavior for 10 years??

This type of television mania is typical of other “pop culture” TV shows such as Jerry Springer, Maury Pouvich, and Montel Williams.  All of which profit from the personal and group crises and desperate self-destructive behavior that belies the underbelly of society.  But, I got to thinking — what is it really?  What causes us to tune in to these shows every day? 

I personally didn’t pay much attention to them and just waved them off as an exhibition of “bad taste”.  But in a society that worships celebrity and extreme wealth, I wonder if something more sinister is going on.  If you stop and think about what the message is behind these shows, you may see something very different. Could this message be that as a populace, “these people” are too stupid, vile, savage, and ignorant to be real human beings?  These shows purposefully encourage and put on display angry, emotional circus-freaks and incestuous slaves to tragic addictions who are consistently portrayed as the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. 

Think about this.  Could it be that the rich elite are dehumanizing this tragic class of poor people?  Isn’t this the same type of behavioral tactic that the military uses to brainwash its troops to hate and kill the enemy? After all, if you dehumanize the enemy, it’s much easier to write them off and not look at them as having the same struggles and challenges we all face?  It’s almost like after viewing these shows, we unconsciously think that “these people” deserve their position at the bottom.  Instead of reaching out to help them see and understand their self-destructive behaviors, we laugh at and ridicule these dysfunctional misfits who are stuck on the wrong side of the tracks.  What I feel these shows conjure up is the feeling that we just want them to stay there.  Is this America’s equivalent of the “untouchables”?

Even in extremely popular shows such as American Idol, the producers of the show are turning it into more of a freak-show than a singing competition parading the same type of dysfunctional, strange people as are displayed on other “pop culture” shows. Simon Cowell even went so far as to call one of the contestants who obviously had some sort of emotional deficit, a “bush baby”.  The show received a fair bit of criticism for it but we continue to laugh. So, what does that make us?  Are we truly sadistic shallow people or are we once again pawns to the rich elite who are sending us unconscious messages to reinforce the class divide?  Hmmm…I don’t know but it is something to think about.