Moment of Greed

So, I was flipping through the 999 channels I have and I saw Moment of Truth on FOX.

Now, if you have watched literally anything on FOX the past week or two, you have seen the commercial for this episode of Moment of Truth: it's the one with the strikingly bleached-blonde skank between whose teeth you could park a small jet. Nothing too unusual about that, I hate to admit (as an American - not as a skank), but according to the booming, disembodied voice-over, "Her answers will destroy her marriage!"

Now, you would think that with a tagline like that, you wouldn't need to see the show, right? Yeah, it's like 2008; if you think that, then you probably think Britney Spears is that cute little Mouseketeer who is gonna grow up to be hot.

But before I start throwing stones, let me just shut this window.

I usually do eschew such blatantly controversial TV - honestly. I do not like getting worked-up over such obvious exploitation - unless it's porn. And much the way I feel about porn, I feel about this particular show: there was nothing better to do and I felt just aroused enough to waste some emotive energy and spill some fluids, so I tuned-in.

I don't know what to say about this because I am not sure what I am supposed to feel. Meaning to say that, this chick is such an unlikable bitch that I am confused - I wanted to see her alienate everyone in her life with her honesty, specifically because the only reason she was being honest was out of sheer greed! On the other hand, I had to question whether or not I could be so honest in the same situation.

So let's take it one step at a time: I find it slightly reprehensible that this is the very premise of the show! It says a lot about America that we do not reward honesty, but find it entertaining to elicit it by appealing to someone's greed. Yeah, yeah, yeah - well, I'm just being honest! And you ain't paying me, so take it and like it or take it and hate it - I do not care. As a truly honest person (writers have to be honest, otherwise everything we write comes out fake, not to mention that this blog would be one big fucking bore if I didn't tell the truth at least occasionally), I see nothing wrong with this "game show" except that it appeals to the contestants' greed in order to get them to tell the truth.

That being said, "Rewarding Honesty" would probably be about as much fun to watch as the title implies.

The other thing is that I have watched this show before and it really is mildly entertaining - "mildly" being the keyword. Just as tonight, it isn't bad, but if there were literally anything else on, anything else would win. The episode I saw (I'm pretty sure there was only the one) featured regular people having their honesty challenged in exchange for cash and prizes - nothing wrong with that, excepting what I pointed-out above; this episode featured a trailer-trash piece of shit - a truly odious human being - who betrayed her husband and family for money and revealed herself to be reprehensible.

Do you see where I'm going with this? As a TV show, it is nothing so bad and I can see where the premise could be quite entertaining even though it's pretty base; couple a sleazy premise with an awful human being, and you get tonight's episode of Moment of Truth.

And I don't know what to think of the host's repeated insistence that he wished it hadn't been shown ("If I'd had my vote, you never would have seen tonight's episode") because I agree with that, but then again, I'm not in television and I don't think even this cat would disagree that this boosted the show's ratings. I don't know that tonight's episode got higher ratings than any of the others - Nielsen probably doesn't even know for sure, yet - but come on... why else would you show it? I found it philosophically intriguing, but I don't think that phrase exists in any TV executive's vernacular - especially not the ones FOX hires.

This chick said she would rather feed a dog than a homeless person because homeless people have "dirty faces" which disgust her. Little Miss Honesty admitted she met her husband when he arrested her for stealing and then admitted she had cheated on him, was never really in love with him, and would leave him for her ex- if the ex- were desperate enough to want to hitch his wagon to this bleached-out boat anchor.

Flat-out: I might have changed the station after the second commercial, but I really wanted to see her fall to ruin for her 30 pieces of silver.

Am I being self-righteous? Maybe. But that concept is so overwrought in modern America that I think this very TV show - base as it is - stands in defiance of the whole idea! What is so self-righteous about judging a person who admits that she is a thief, a liar, a cheat, a phony, and worse? Is it so wrong that I feel this way!?

Think about it: why shouldn't I feel superior to this trashy bimbo!? I have had many chances to throw all my morals out the window I just shut for one self-serving desire or another, and while I have failed on occasion, I have made better choices! I damned well should feel superior to someone like this because I am! I could chuck it all and become a crackhead, but I have made the conscious decision not to do so, so why shouldn't I feel superior to people like Daniel Baldwin!? I have had the chance to cheat on my girlfriends with random people, but I consciously chose not to do so, so why should I "forgive and forget" if someone does it to me!?

I really believe that's part of what is wrong today: those of us who make better decisions are declared "self-righteous" when we slam those who do not. I have been bested by temptation too many times to count and I am not a saint - that is honesty; this bitch sought-out temptation at every chance and willingly "gave-in" to it, using it as an excuse to avoid the guilt and responsibility that came along with whatever she did. And, I'm quite certain, she tried to spin it back around on everyone who called her on it - trying to make them out to be "self-righteous" and "hypocritical" for having the nerve to tell her what a selfish, lying, cheating, rotten, little bitch she is for betraying everyone, taking advantage of every situation, and never taking responsibility for it - ever! What she displayed tonight was far from honesty - that was guilt! And she shouldn't be absolved of her betrayals because she "courageously" admitted to them...

Because, at the very heart of it all, the only reason she did it was for the money.

SPOILER ALERT

The idiot lost the money! After all that, she lost the money! But she feels she's a better person because of it.

Ye-ah. You sure are.

I have to admit, that made me feel really good. And don't get all self-righteous and say that makes me a bad person!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008