Revolution #247, October 9, 2011
Reality television in a revolutionary world
Revolution received the following submission by a regular reader:
In the DVD, “Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About,” there is a section in which Chairman Bob Avakian asks the audience to imagine a different world. In my mind, I imagine a different world often, and so I wanted to share some Imagining I have done lately. This imagining has been based on reality tv. Now, I am fully aware that if there was a revolutionary world, with new ideas, fresh minds speaking up and new plans being made and a whole different mentality leading the world, there may not be reality tv. Hopefully, people will have better things to do with their time than to watch so much tv. But, just in case there is, I have some ideas for some shows. And even if not, seeing a different direction may help us all go forth in it.
New show idea #1: Instead of Extreme Makeover Home Edition we could have a show called, Teach Everyone How to Build Housing! The show would profile different communities working together to build sustainable housing. The show would offer a tutorial for others in different methods of building and would feature not one “lucky” family but a whole community using resources that were created by them, for everyone to use, not manufactured by children in China for a small elite group of individuals. Teach Everyone How to Build Housing would provide an edited overview of housing being built for a community and the big move that bus moment, wouldn’t be necessary because everyone would have taken part in it. Maybe the ending is a huge party that gets thrown to celebrate hard work and the peace of mind that comes with such a simple thing as a roof over our heads.
New show idea #2: No More Real Housewives, Wife Swap or Nanny 911. How about a show called Real Family Work! There needs to be babies in any society and imagine there was a show that taught people how to take care of children of various ages. The show could feature recipes using locally grown fruits and vegetables that could be made for groups of families collectively. The recipes would be focused on healthy eating and build stronger people of all ages. There could be a part of the show that helps people make collective decisions and provide tips on how to raise the children. Better yet, this program could feature the older people of the community—let their wisdom have its rightful place as a part of the community.
New show idea #3: Forget dating shows like the Bachelor, Elimidate, Matchmaker, and Parental Control. Let’s have a show about relationships--revolutionary relationships. In fact, that sounds like a perfect name for the show! One that helps people understand how to talk to each other and relate on different terms. Currently, many people are taught to relate to people in a “how can I use sexuality to manipulate you.” Imagine if people saw themselves as more than sex objects and people came on a show to talk about how that changes relations between people. Imagine if this show debated the old way and the new way and openly talked about what it felt like to be objectified. Right now, there is no voice like this. And there are too many people who are settling for so much less than they are capable of achieving!
New show idea #4: I say down with shows like Hoarders, Addiction, and Celebrity Rehab. These shows actually do not help people make changes that are really needed in their lives. How can we blame the hoarders when we are bombarded from so many angles with the idea of buy buy buy? What makes people feel like drug and alcohol abuse is the only way to live life? We need a show that profiles art, music, writing, experiments, discoveries, and thoughts. We need to spread knowledge about how amazing this world is and how much potential human beings really have. We need to get together on Friday nights and learn about how to make the revolution successful and bring a new society into being.
And instead of Toddlers in Tiaras…well…actually, there should be no show ever again like Toddlers in Tiaras. What that show documents children doing is absolutely heart-breaking. Toddlers in Tiaras should actually be, if for no other reason, the reason a revolution should happen. These beautiful young minds are being warped as early as two to believe that nothing more matters in life than how pretty someone else will judge you to be.
Wow! We need a Revolution! We need a whole new way of running things. We need a new way of relating to each other. No more Donald Trump and Celebrity Apprentice! We need more people working for the things that matter—not for the accumulation of capital but for the future of all people! We need a revolution, we need the leadership of Bob Avakian to get us there and we need you! Imagine that!
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