The Rising Of Popular Culture: A Bad Form Of Entertainment

Erica Spinillo Spinillo 1
Mrs. Spinilli
Academic Writing
4/17/11
Argument Essay Reality TV shows can be inappropriate at times, but then again it speaks the truth and even teaches many good lessons. My personal opinion is that these television shows are a good thing. This differentiates with Schlosser’s opinion upon the media but there are many aspects of reality TV that can be a good thing. Meanwhile Johnson argues, “everything bad is good for you”, I agree with this aspect of it. Not necessarily that everything bad is good for you, but when he talks about the media and television not having the negative affect that most people thinks it does, that is when I agree. When it comes to children acting out in response towards
the influence of television, most of it would usually be thought of as being bad, that is not necessarily true, many television shows can be influential in good ways. While browsing through these sources, it was clear to see how mostly everyone’s opinion is negative upon the medias influence on society. George Will labeling video games, television and other technologies had an opinion such as “progress: more sophisticated delivery of stupidity”. First of all it is hard for me to understand how technology is stupid. Besides the whole construction of technology, its affect on people has a brilliant side as well. Technology such as reality TV is by far stupidity; it is in fact a learning experience. Such reality television shows that are a great learning experience would be Teen Mom, True Life, Dr. Phil, and many Spinillo 2 more. These shows deal with the learning experience and mistakes of children, teens, and many adults out there. Being able to watch a show about reality and have it be interesting at the same time is defiantly something to take advantage of. Reality TV has a large affect upon the way children portray them.
Many parents and just adults in general do not understand that having their children view the way the real world is can actually be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. This can broaden the child’s horizon, mature them, get them motivated and start to realize what career they may want to take part in. Instead of adults letting their children watch these shows, they shelter their children from such due to the fact that they are scared of the outcome from watching these shows. From the source “The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch” they demonstrate how TV is a bad form of entertainment; “Despite a few studies such as Constance Rourke’s classic American Humor (1931), the history of amusements only rarely received attention in looks and classrooms.” Here they at least understand that entertainment is rarely ever received in classrooms and reading. Then, they continue to say how; “The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr also worried about modern entertainment. “Television ,” he wrote in 1952, “may represent a threat to our culture analogues to the threat of atomic weapons to our civilization.”” These people truly believe that television is harming the society and culture when it is actually doing the opposite, it is making individuals more aware and prone to helping out the society
instead. While reviewing the other sources such as: Torr, James D. “Is Media Spinillo 3 Violence a Problem?”, Wood, Suzanne W. “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture ist5tr Actually Making Us Smarter”, Levesque, Roger J. R. Adolescents, “Media, and the Law”: What Developmental Science Reveals and Free Speech Requires, and Johnson, Steven. “From Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing, Boston: New York., Stuart Greene, April Lidinsky, 2008. Print, there are many different opinions most in which go against medias affects upon society. As the book Is Media Violence A Problem quotes “These media can, and often are, used to instruct, encourage, and even inspire.” They later on say how when the entertainment is showcased in violence the lessons learned can be destructive. Although they understand that the television is inspiring it is not always destructive, reality TV is usually a good thing. In comparison to that book the source Adolescents, Media, and the Law states how “The new media actually seems to facilitate known forms of harms rather than create new crimes.” Without being said, this book is supportive on the thoughts of the media specifically reality TV teaching and making children learn about crimes rather then creating them. When relating to the novel Johnsons actual reading, he states “Next time you hear someone complaining about violent TV mobsters, or accidental onscreen nudity, or human inanity of reality programming, or the dull stares of Nintendo addicts, you should think of the Sleeper Curve rising steadily beneath all that superficial chaos.” Johnson believes that whenever you hear someone complaining about how violent television is relate it to how violent everything else can be, it is not only the media Spinillo 4 that corrupts children’s minds, reality TV doesn’t even really do that. Schlosser talking more specifically about how corrupt fast food commercials can be and that being the reasoning for childhood obesity, that is not the reason for obesity, it may nt help but when relating to the thoughts upon reality TV and fast food commercials neither are the blame for what everyone thinks the outcome is. Last but not least when reviewing the source Wood, Suzanne W. Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter it states how “While violence is present in some media offerings, as content it has far less influence on our minds the opportunity to learn to analyze, interpret, and evaluate in complex settings and circumstances”, which is saying exactly how TV has less of an affect amongst the society than everyone thinks it does. In response toward the argument of bad or good pop culture by opinion is that it is a good influence.
The media has a large affect upon individuals especially children. The counterargument here is the fact that what media has lost in moral clarity it has also gained in realism. This is saying that the media may display some inappropriate ideas but some bad ideas aren’t a big deal when the overall view of it is not so bad. Then again it is just entertainment so as long as it is serving its purpose without harming others it should not matter what everybody thinks. The concession here is that I acknowledge that many people may not agree with the point that reality TV and just TV in general isn’t all that bad. They try and promote good ideas and influences. Whether the topic is sexuality, drugs, socialization, voting or violence they all have inspiration upon children. Reality TV is a strong Spinillo 5 way of affecting society. In this matter I am for the idea of reality TV affecting individuals. It may be wrong at times but there are many ways in which it actually teaches children and widens their
intelligence. In conclusion when comparing the two thoughts of TV, specifically reality TV the thought of it not having a negative effect on children and actually being a good learning experience must be heard by more people. Many think that it is a bad thing for children to do, watching TV causes them to act out violently and cause crimes, this is not true. Also many people most likely do not even know the background information about television and its affects, they probably just feed off of others negative opinions and don’t have their own. When it comes to children acting out in response towards the influence of television, most of it would usually be thought of as being bad, that is not necessarily true, many television shows can be influential in good ways. Many of the sources support the idea of television not being so bad after all, yet some do state their negative thoughts pertaining to the medias affect with television. All in all reality TV is not the blame for children’s bad crimes, reality TV actually is helping children learn about the real world and its influences.

Spinillo 6 Works Cited: Wood, Suzanne W. Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter
Media Source| Apr 15, 2005| New York http://search.proquest.com/docview/196930388?accountid=26712 Torr, James D. Is Media Violence a Problem? San Diego: Greenhaven, 2002. Print. "The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch." Oxford Journals | Humanities | OAH Magazine of History. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. http://maghis.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/2/11.extract Levesque, Roger J. R. Adolescents, Media and the Law: What Developmental Science Reveals and Free Speech Requires. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print. Johnson, Steven. “From Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing, Boston: New York., Stuart Greene, April Lidinsky, 2008. Print.