Reflective Essay on Reality Shows

Reflective Essay on Reality Shows Reality Shows should be Banned The main essence of reality shows is to put ordinary people in a social confined setting with extraordinary environment and activities with the aim of entertaining audiences with the illusion that what is going on is not scripted nor rehearsed. Most reality shows attempt to convince the audience that the participants of the show are being pushed to their physical, emotional or physiological limits in order to complete a specific task or attain a certain goal of which audience cheer on their favorite participant. With the change in times and technology most reality shows have gone over board and have forgotten the basic concept of reality shows and are now focusing more on entertainment than reality that has lead to increase in sexual exposure, humiliation and immorality. Reality shows have lost their way from original series like survivor to the new mediocre series of two celebrities living in a farm yard for a week. Reality TV has joined the ranks of day time entertainment and has l ost the spark of spontaneous originality from other forms of scripted entertainment. Additionally, the most famous reality shows worldwide are big brother and Idols; these two are examples of scripted and well rehearsed reality shows. In the just concluded episode of idols a judge was dared to sing out of the blue and it so happened just by â€Å"coincidence† that the band started playing a song which the judge joined in emphatically without hesitation. The crowed cheered and applauded for the â€Å"unexpected† performance by the judge. Such reality T.V. shows give viewers and more so children false hope of a â€Å"happily ever after† reality were heroes and heroines live thus insulting the intelligence of the viewers. In the case of big brother viewers are subjected to sex as a form of entertainment. Relationships formed in the big brother house give the participant a better chance of winning the competition and increase his/her ratings thus the audience spends time and money voting for the participant so they can enjoy seeing the participants relationship grow. And due to the full disclosure nature of the show all activities are broadcasted and shown live on our T.V. sets exposing and encouraging our youths, young adults and children to sex, immorality and promiscuous behaviors. Furthermore, the common comic saying â€Å"its funny until someone gets hurt, then its hilarious† comes to life in most reality shows. Producers of reality shows capitalize on the demise and misfortunes of participants. When a contestant falls down or gets hurt in anyway it is taken as a form of entertainment or comedy not knowing the humiliation and psychological trauma they instill in the participant. Examples of such shows are â€Å"show me the funny† â€Å"Real T.V.† and â€Å"Fear factor†. Show me the funny capitalizes on bloopers of home made videos which show family member having accidents such as hitting each other being bitten by a snake or having a ball hit them on their faces. Turning such perilous or even fatal accidents to o form of humor encourages children to view violence and accidents as vivacious events and not the precarious activities they are. Producers also capitalize on the eviction or the inability of a participant to complete a cer tain assignment. The humiliation and reaction of a participant being evicted or accepting defeat is a high point of most reality T.V. which is morally and ethically wrong. The failure of a fellow human being should be frowned upon and not celebrated. The planned scripting and acting that happens in reality T.V. shows insults the viewers intelligence. A good example of this is the most popular TV show on the planet, the WWE wrestling. Such shows give the viewers the misapprehensions that what is going on is ad hoc, spontaneous and impulsive and yet they are not. The physical abuse that is entailed in the WWE wrestling show is unfeasible, ridiculous and impracticable. No human being can with stand such maltreatment and continue to show aggression to his opponent with full body strength. Majority of the audience know that such reality shows are scripted and premeditated but to the young and young at heart, the level of belief and credence they have in reality shows is hazardous to their mental capability to distinguish authentic violence from fictional performances. Such reality shows affect the social interactions of youths. They encourage violence as a form of entertainment and not the atrocious, offensive conduct that it is. Suc h Reality shows have promoted violence in children which has consequently increased gang related bloodshed in America and violent behavior schools. Though most violent reality shows try and warn the audience against performing their impractical physical fetes and aptitude, audiences cannot help but to try out what they see on T.V. and in turn end up hurting themselves and others in the process. Contrarily the banning of reality shows would give us false hope of protecting our children from the bad aspect of â€Å"sex and violence† because it is not only in reality shows that our children are exposed to sex and violence, technology has made it possible for our children to access sexual contents and violent games and videos via the internet. Though banning reality shows would reduce the amount of sexual content they would be exposed to it would only pave way to new forms of sexual and violent entertainment which would conveniently reach our children. Reality TV shows are one but not the most sexually explicit forms of entertainment, so we should not elude our selves that banning reality television would solve the problem, it will only reduce it for a some time, until other forms of explicit entertainment come along. Banning reality TV will be breaking of international laws. It would be an infringement of basic rights, freedom of speech. Every and all human have the right to express themselves in a way they deem fit and so by banning reality TV show we would contravene with their democratic right to convey their grievances and views. With this in mind it would be erroneous to ban the shows since most of the producers know their rights and follow them to the latter, this will convey the violation of these rights and hence it will be impracticable. The viewers too have the absolute right to watch these shows and amuse themselves; banning these shows will create an international outcry from the viewers who derive pleasure from these shows, it will also be in breach of the viewers rights. We should also take heart in the fact that most people will se right through scripted reality shows. We live in an informed world where information is at our finger tips. The shallow scripts and predictability of mediocre reality TV are clichà ©s and with time audiences will distinguish between scripted premeditated and organized reality TV shows and the real thing. At the end of the day if a reality show does not appeal to your everyday life and situation then one should know that the show is scripted. More so with information and technology easy accessibility most viewers get to know the hollowness of reality TV shows and watch them primly for entertainment. This makes the banning of the shows irrelevant and unimportant because to the viewers they are more or less a form of amusement. Finally we need to accept that reality shows have fallen from grace and are not what they used to be. We need to ask ourselves who is to blame, the producers who make the reality TV shows or we the audience who give the producers reason to dramatize reality in a sexually immoral way that that affect the behavior and morals of our young. If the producers made real reality shows that speak to the day to day events of our lives would we watch them with the same interests we watch the current scripted shows? Would we still enjoy the true conflicts triumphs and struggles or are we already hooked to the soap opera type of reality TV that is being broadcasted through out the world/ are we our own worst victims, influencing the increase of sex violence and immorality that is reality TV shows? Or should we shift the blame to those who produce the shows? If we didnt create a market for low quality TV productions would our children be exposed to such appalling entertainment range? The question remains would it help if reality TV was banned? References Murray, S. Ouellete, L. (2008). Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture.(2nd Ed). New York, NYU Press.

E.M Forster

E. M Forster Essay â€Å"I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. † It appears to me that E. M Forster does make a valuable point in her personal speculation to believe that personal relations are more important than a simple cause or patriotism. In this essay I will give reason to Forster’s opinion as well as the other view of things. Without beloved friends, not only would there be no country,but also the world would seem lonely and one would be lost. (Correlative conj. At some unexpected point in all our lives, we must come to an end, and when we do we want to be able to think, â€Å" When I must leave this world, I’m actually going to be satisfied† (complex sentence) Friends engender a certain warmth that your country will never be able to formulate within. â€Å"A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally conf ide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity. † (Compound Sentence) This quote is a true definition of a dear friend. The comprehension between two friends is something that you simply cannot get anywhere else, let alone from your country. A single rose can be my garden, but a single friend can be my world. † Friends are roses. (metaphor) Friends blossom with you, helping you grow as a person, enlightening you, every step you take. Friendship is like a violin; the music may stop now and then, but the strings will last forever. (simile) Although this esoteric view may seem like the correct way into choosing a friend over a country, others may contradict that and think otherwise. One may think that being there for one’s country is the absolute least thing you can do to show honor and pride. The love of one's country is a splendid thing. † It’s true, having pride of what land you reside in is great. Some may argue with t he thought of standing by their country rather than a friend is a much wiser idea simply because of how your country will physically never abandon you like some friends might do over time. â€Å"Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country† One can create a certain barrier of so-called protection by simply protecting their country in hope of receiving something spiritual in return.Loyalty and pride are two traits everyone should have when speaking of their homeland, how far they take it, is entirely their own path and choice to take. Overall, I agree with E. M Forster’s main idea in choosing friends over her own country if it would ever result to that. â€Å"As the year go by our friendship will never die† Even when it may not be physically visible friendship will always be there to comfort you with lengthy arms of warmth, encouragement, and companionship, traits that your own shining country will never have.

What Does Politics Play A Role A Government - 1531 Words

Case Study Review To begin this assessment, we ask the question, how why and how does politics play a role in government. Initially, the answer is obvious; politics is the process by which governments operate. However, for this essay the definition of politics has a more distinctive and idiosyncratic meaning. What we find with politics is that it is found in all organizations, both public and private. Organizational politics refers to how people develop power and social networks in attempts to influence others in the group. People use strategies like coalitions, alliances, bargains, or deal making to engage others to influence decision-making and outcomes. In most cases people use politics to seek positive outcomes but we have also seen where negative results are the consequence (Denhardt, Denhardt Aristigueta, 2013, p. 238). Second, question we ask is, â€Å"What is effective public management?† It is most likely where someone is able to identify problems, set goals and use decision-making skills to bring about desired results for citizens of a community or state (Denhardt et al, 2013, p. 130). Over the years, many social scientists and specialists have published theories about motivation and improving productivity. One theory that has gained widespread acceptance throughout business and government for decision making is the managerial model, â€Å"Management by Objective† (MBO). What is MBO? This question looms large for what is it, how is it applied, and most important what doShow MoreRelatedExplain The Effects Of Family On Ones Political Values1171 Words   |  5 PagesDescribe what a democracy is and why it is significant. A democracy is a system of government where the people have the opportunity to have a say in important governmental processes. 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Stereotypes in School - 517 Words

Stereotypes in school can affect student and their education. Writer, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å" How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† explains the effects of stereotypes and how other races handle them. He supports his claim by explaining to the audience what a beast is, and how the answer depends on who is asking the question. He then explains how he eventually came to understand that minorities do better when they work with their own race and are not reminded of these stereotypes. Vedantam’s purpose is to inform people how these stereotypes affect people in a way that can lead them far from success. He adopts a serious and urgent tone for the audience to stop people from stereotyping others so that they can succeed. I think his finding would be very useful to test at my school. Our teacher, Mrs. Roberts gave us a sheet with questions about stereotypes. We were told to interview two people. One of the people was inside our english class. The other was a student that was either a recent graduate, or a student at Point Loma High School. Next, we inputted the data into a form which was converted into a viewable spreadsheet. We looked at all the data by gender first. The second time we viewed the data, it was grouped by ethnicity. Our class has done research into stereotypes at our school. We have interviewed 165 students. Seventy-nine percent of the people we interviewed were in the ninth grade. The rest were evenly spread betweenShow MoreRelatedStereotypes in Schools953 Words   |  4 PagesStereotypes in school can affect students in their confidence and education. Writer, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å"How A Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† argues that reminding people of their race before a test or quiz can be the reason they dont score as high on a test. He supports his claim by first explaining things that Sociologist Min-Hsiung Huang discovered. 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He supports his claim by first explaining that on a standardized vocabulary test, black people on average scored a 5.49 out of 10 questions correctly and white people answered 6.33 correctlyRead MoreThe Situation of Stereotypes in High Schools557 Words   |  2 PagesStereotypes in our society can be a major problem, but can be an extremely big problem to teenagers. In my school, stereotypes has a wide range of impact to our students. In our class we had read an article based on stereotypes.Writer and musician, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† claims that if you mention a person race they may have a lower performance on tests. He supports his claim by first explaining that when a person is testedRead MoreStereotypes at Point Loma High School609 Words   |  2 PagesOur class does research on the way stereotypes affect people in our school. We have interviewed 165 students. 79% of the people we interviewed were in 9th grade. 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The stereotypes of ethnicity is causingRead MoreHow Stereotypes Affect Teens699 Words   |  3 PagesStereotypes can be a problem in our society, but they are especially a problem for teenagers. At my school stereotypes impact a wide range of students. My class read â€Å"How a Self Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† by Writer and novelist, Shankar Vedantam. In his article he argues that telling people about their race before an exam will hurt their performance. He supports his claim by providing statistics on the average test scores of blacks compared to whites. He then explains thatRead MoreHow a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance by Shankar Vedantam657 Words   |  3 Pages Shankar Vedantam, author of Hidden Brain and NPR science correspondent informs and advocates for equality in the education system in his article â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance† published in the Washington Post (2009). Vedantam begins his article by interacting with the audience while he asks a question,and he cites Sociologist Min-Hsuing Huang’s research on the influence that the environment has on a minority. Huang found out that: reminding minorities of their raceRead MoreSummary Of Stereotypes In The Little Rock Nine873 Words   |  4 Pages Stereotypes Stereotypes, people who put other people into a category that they think they belong in. Individuals should be able to be themselves without being focused to be something they are not. Stereotypes the dictionary defines as  ¨a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. ¨ Words that are synonyms are  ¨pattern†, â€Å"custom†, and â€Å"average. ¨ Other words that are antonyms are, â€Å"same† and â€Å"alike. ¨ Stereotypes are people