[Marxism] Reality TV and the SSA of Monopoly Capitalism

["Craven, Jim" <JCraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

It is set in a jungle with more deadly flora and fawna than any extreme
jungle on any of the "Survivor" shows. It has more narcissistic and
self-absorbed "hardbodies" than anything on the "Bachelor", the
"Bachelorette" or "Are You Hot?" It has plots, twists and "reveals" more
twisted and humiliating than anything on "Joe Millionaire" or "Meet My
Folks". It has more intrigue, humiliation, Social Darwinism, dog-eat-dog
competition, Machiavellianism and rat-race individualism than anything
on "The Real World", "Who Wants to Marry My Dad" or "Average Joe". It
has stunts and participants are forced to eat shit more extreme and
disgusting than anything on "Fear Factor". It has more megalomania,
hubris, narcissism, viciousness, manipulation, superficiality,
voyeurism, Machiavellian intrigue and predatory behavior than anything
on "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire", "Survivor" or any of the other
"Reality" [of capitalism] shows on the air. It has more predatory,
toadying and disgusting yuppy pukes than "L.A. Law" or "Ally McBeal".
The "it" to which I am referring is "The Apprentice" which focuses on,
in addition to the narcissism, superficiality, megalomania, sexism,
racism, possessions, wealth, predatory behavior, hubris, callousness,
and empire of Trump, going through various stunts and intrigues to find
someone to run one of Trumps businesses as a president making $250,000
per year plus perks; it is billed as the ultimate job interview. It
features eight men and eight women, initially formed into men versus
women, to perform certain business-related stunts.
 
First they were formed into two teams of women versus men with their
first exercise being selling lemonade (it is up to them by the glass,
the case of by the truck load) with the winning team getting to see some
of the inside and disgusting trappings of wealth of Trump and the loser
team going to the boardroom where one of them gets fired by Trump (who
appears to really enjoy doing it). Each team selects a project manager,
different eacfh week, and if the team loses, the project goes to the
boardroom and the project manager selects two--supposedly most
responsible for the failure--to accompany him or her. In the boardroom
they turn on each other, ratting each other out, trying not to be the
one selected to "go down to the street instead of up to the suite" [in
Trump Towers]. Other assignments have included: form a marketing plan to
sell credit cards for travel in executive jets, fixing up an apartment
and renting it out, selling art to art buyers at a gallary, selling
"Trump Ice" (bottled water), selling rickshaw rides/advertising in NYC
etc. Supposedly each assignment focuses on some aspect of business:
marketing, sales, deal making, etc.  
 
Trump, along with his bad toupe, is in his glory and obviously has no
idea--or care--how shallow, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, egomaniacal
and really not very bright that he reveals himself to be. Throught this
show we get these homilies of Trump: "It's not personal, only
business."; "You cannot sell what you do not believe in", "No excuses",
"It is genes that determine greatness" (being from the same stock of a
rich father, it is supposedly the genes and not the inherited wealth
that makes "suckcess" in business).
 
I have no doubt that the emergence and dominance of this genre--called
"Reality TV" is an integral and calculated part of the changing SSA and
SSA requirements of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. A new article
entitled "Voting Democracy off the Island: Reality TV and the Republican
Ethos" by Francise Prose, in Harper's Magazine, March 2004 is along
these lines but does not refer to or utilize the SSA concept; it is
nonetheless worth reading.
 
Jim C.
 
 
 
James M. Craven
Blackfoot Name: Omahkohkiaayo-i'poyi
Professor/Consultant,Economics;Business Division Chair
Clark College, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd.
Vancouver, WA. USA 98663
Tel: (360) 992-2283; Fax: (360) 992-2863
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blkfoot5
Employer has no association with private/protected opinion
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present
controls the past." (George Orwell)
"...every anticipation of results which are first to be proved seems
disturbing to me...(Karl Marx, "Grundrisse")
FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!
 
 
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