What is real? 6.1.01

Several things have been making me think recently. One is a CNN report Wednesday about what qualifies as "reality TV." Apparently, their is great concern in America that reality TV might not be as real as it can be. Standards may need to be adopted to ensure quality reality is the only thing making its way onto our airwaves. Perhaps some kind of clever expiration date like they have on milk jugs. "Genuine as of June 2," "Watch by July 23 to ensure reality."
Also on my mind, a Sunday morning political debate on "Washington Week" about SUVs and efforts to regulate their horrendous gas mileage. One pundit opposed to a minimum standard for gas mileage said Americans deserve to drive whatever kind of gas-guzzlers they want, "Americans are entitled to their standard of living."
Statements like this seem innocuous, but still make me uncomfortable on some level. It seems prideful and immoral to believe that anyone is somehow endowed by God, circumstances, social status or even really hard work to an outrageously high standard of living. I might work like hell for everything I have and make buckets of cash, it doesn't mean I am entitled to roasted bald eagle with buffalo tongue stuffing for dinner. The line has to be drawn somewhere and it seems that in this day and age, expecting a car to get 12 miles to the gallon is not unreasonable.
Also twisting my melon, I have been debating whether or not to get cable. I have been satisfied with my local channels though my reception is hideous. I was willing to live without CBS, KYNE, the WB, color on FOX and decent reception on every channel expect KBIN, which was crystal clear. With summer reruns coming, I might actually read a book sometime. I love reading, but will not make the time to do it if I have 70 channels of pabulum to choose from instead.
And harshing my uniquely American mellow this week, I talked to two men who spent the last six months in Kosovo. Kosovo is a mess. It is a bombed-out hole of a province in Yugoslavia with open sewers and a standard of living that makes "The Grapes of Wrath" look like "The Valley of the Dolls."
During the course of two fascinating interviews, it came up that as Americans, we forget about places like Kosovo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Iraq, the West Bank, North Korea, Cambodia, and the list goes on.
Who doesn't turn the channel as fast as they can when starving children appear? I do, partly because I don't believe there is much I can do. And I feel guilty because I don't even try while finding plenty of things to complain about that pale next to the world's atrocities.
For example, restaurants that serve cheeseburgers without grilling the bun, I hate this and complain endlessly about it to friends and coworkers.
Getting cable and finding nothing but infomercials on 50 channels after 2 in the morning.
Complaining about taxes even though I know they pay for living in the greatest democracy in the free world, emergency services, police and roads.
Paying $6.50 for movie tickets and $7.50 for movie theater concessions.
Complaining about the level of reality in my reality TV shows.
I don't want to tell CNN how to do their job, but it seems what has become one of the biggest most reliable TV news sources in the world could find time to talk about something more important than how real reality TV is.
Was anybody confused before? Granted a game show should not be rigged, but seven strangers set adrift and left to fend for themselves on a tropical island in the South Pacific forced to perform bizarre, meaningless tasks for the chance to win $1 million dollars is about as real as non-fat "sour cream" and as credible as 900 psychic hotlines.
None of my relationships have been tested on "Temptation Island." I have never traveled with a group of people knowing one of us is traitor. There have been very few times in my life when I have been chained to another person for the viewing pleasure of the public, which reminds me never speed through Louisiana.
I've never lived with six strangers picked to live in a mansion while hordes of cameramen film everything from me shaving to me sleeping.
The truth is, reality TV is only called that because no one is an actor being paid to play a role and that is about the size of it. Reality shows choose cast members for their diverse backgrounds, so the fur will fly for our amusement. Very little of anything on television is real. Even the news is questionable. What was shown? What was not? Why did they interview this person and not that one? Is there more to the story than a 30 second clip? Is anyone really so concerned about how real their reality TV is?

Greg Jerrett is a Nonpareil staff writer. He can be reached at gjerrett@nonpareilonline.com.