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Thursday, April 28, 2011

"Beyond boundaries", or "against all ods", no matter what you call it, it's nothing but a freakshow

“Two things are infinite: the universe and stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” Albert Einstein.

Well, I've gotta say, that I'm not sure about the univers either, but as far as stupidity goes I don't have any doubts what so ever.

I'm sure I can't be the only one who would like to be able to turn on the tv and find something other than an exceedingly stupid reality show on every single channel. And yes, in my opinion all reality shows are stupid! Why? Because the media is doing a fine job of designing shows for morons. You can be absolutely cirtain, that if they don't have a humiliating consept, such as in "the biggest loser", they'll make sure that the people participating barely score 85 on the IQ-test, such as with the girls who get pregnant just so they can try to get accepted to "Teen mom." And this dear reader, is why I quit watching tv several years ago, with the exception of an occasional documentary.

I know, I know. Just because you watch it, doesn’t mean you’ll act that way, or believe that the stupid shows hold the ticket to real success for that matter. But seriously, does watching something like that require any kind of thinking at all? Can you learn anything from it? Or does it just give you the chance to sit back and enjoy the fact that even though you may need to lose some wheight, at least you're not as fat as that nasty girl there on the screen? If so, what kind of standards does that set for us and our children?

If all we need to strive for is not being worse than that mess of a teenager who grew up in the wrong neighbourhood, chose the wrong friends, quit school to work as a stripper to support the child that she had when she was 15 and, who of course doesn't have a father on the birth certificate, for the simple reason that all the candidates are in prison for pocession of illegal drugs and intent to sell. Well people, then we cirtainly don't learn to use our potential to the fullest.

The latest reality show being recorded for swedish tv, "Beyond boundaries", or "Against all ods" as they want to call it this time, is something we capchered from the brits and, it is some what different than the crap we've imported from American tv. I'll give them that, but that is all I'll give them however.
Basically a bunch of people with different Physical disabilities are gonna have to survive several adventures in the african wilderness. I'm not sure what they'll have to do in the swedish version, but in the british show They've had to cross the two oldest deserts in the world, avoid lions and rhinos, and ride the world’s most dangerous rapids.

I guess the goal is that they'll have to help each other out to accomplish cirtain tasks and let one disability compansate for the other, so that they can show the world that a lot of things are possible no matter what physical limitations you're up against. It's not a bad thing in itself, but I'm gonna ask you to think one step further.

With the atitudes mentioned above I'm afraid that all they'll be able to accomplish is a freakshow, that enables folks to watch flabbergasted from the comfort of their home and exclaim every time those "poor disabled ones" do something that they didn't think them capable of. All while they rather get their prejudice confirmed than eliminated and, grow more ignorat by the second.

What gives you the right to show a group of disabled people and put an equals sign between all of the individuals? - Lets put the blind, the deaf and the dumb guys over there with the ones in the weelchairs and, see how good they all get along, while we normal people hang out and watch from over here...

Honestly, what do you think's gonna happen when the blind guy has to work with the deaf guy to carry the guy with no legs across a river? Isn't there a high risk of it becoming a laughing matter instead of something that awakens admiration?

Oh and I'm sure we'll get a love story in there as well, so that people can keep thinking how good it is that the disabled ones get to meet other disabled people, where it's actually quite common that you're in a relationship with someone who doesn't have any disabilities at all.

My next issue is who they're gonna choose to represent the different groups, considering medias tendency to pick the least suitable for the job when it comes to other reality shows. I know blind people who can't take their own trash out, because they claim they don't know where to put it, where as other blind people travel the world and enjoy doing it. But which picture will they choose to present to the public?

If they're genuinely interested in letting the world know that we can do anything a person without any form of disabilities can do, then perhaps the media should start giving space to all the sports organizations and the like, which do a wonderful job when it comes to giving people opportunities and confidence whether they have physical disabilities or not.

And if it has to be a reality show,the only solution is to let people with disabilities on to the regular reality shows along with the so called "normal" people. Preferably "Survivor" or it's swedish answer "Expedition Robinson" or something like that, which actually requiers that the participants have a brain . Oops, I guess I forgot that people only want to watch morons these days, so that show probably doesn't exist anymore...

Actually, keeping the format they have right now wouldn't be a bad idea, as long as having a physical disabilaty is removed from the requirements.
Please join the facebook page to stop tv from broadcasting the freakshow now!

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