What Exit Are You From?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/business/media/07reality.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mtv%20reality%20shows&st=cse

The SNL joke revolved around all New Jersey-ites knowing which exit on the NJ Turnpike (I-95) they reside near.

Bad joke, but I can laugh at myself.
(Why does N.J have all the toxic dumps and California all the lawyers? N.J. got to choose first.)

Although I was born in LI, NY I lived in N.J. from 1962 until 1983, so I consider myself a a Jersey boy - sorry Bruce, I had to.

Well, now it seems that MTV has decided to sully Italian Americans as well as New Jersey as a state with their latest offering, "Jersey Shore."
The participants use the term "Guido" much the same way Hip-Hop personages use "nigger."
I find the use of either term to be incredibly ignorant and reprehensible.

Racial or in this case ethnic epithets do nothing but perpetuate the stereotypes.
I am far more Italian than some of my Italian friends.
(And some of them are more Jewish than me)

And the kids on this show defend themselves in much the same way as the Hip-Hop 'artists' will defend their transgression.

"The show’s cast members have defended themselves in interviews, saying that the term some people find offensive, to them simply refers to a lifestyle of muscled, well-coiffed and deeply tanned men and women."

What a crock of shit.
It epitomizes a thick necked, violence prone barbarian with no intelligence who is more interested in looking good than being good.
It drives all Italian-Americans into a small, tiny pigeonhole.

The other offering is no better.
ABC’s new series “Find My Family” is exploitation at its worst.
Of course a happy reunion will make for nice ratings, but I wonder if the producers will see fit to show the aftermath as well?
In fact, I fear that is precisely what they are banking on.

If the reunion was tearful just wait until the anger, questions and unresolved issues surface.
DRAMA of the first degree!
Bingo - a ratings giant.

How crass and Scrooge-like that at this time of year there are people who will shamelessly exploit the plight of others for their own aggrandizement.

These people who for whatever reason could not raise their children do not need the entire television viewing audience there when the child asks the natural questions.
Or when the rest of the family interferes to the point of making a bad scene worse.

For shame, ABC!

I hope ABC gets a visit from the Ghosts of Christmas.