American Entertainment

So I was driving my brother home tonight after a good workout, and we had just picked up some dinner. Westbound on Beltline Rd., just cruising, chatting, and we had the local Top 40 station, WZYP on the radio. For many years I've been a music snob and would distance myself from Top 40 stuff because, well, I just couldn't stand it. However, over the last few months there have been enough good songs floating around out there for me to keep listening to the radio.

Anyway, the DJ comes on and he has a caller on the line who wants to know if her boyfriend/fiancee/husband is cheating on her. So the DJ calls his cell phone number and pretends to be from freshroses.com, and goes into a pitch about how this guy has won a free dozen roses and he can have them shipped anywhere. The guy asks a few questions, weary of whether this is a scam or not, but the DJ has all his bases covered and convinces the guy that it's genuine. Sure enough, the guy asks to have them sent to someone else, his woman speaks up and makes her presence known, and four minutes of awkwardness ensues.

Now, this guy is obviously a jerk. He needs to be humiliated for being such a chump. However, I'm puzzled over how this makes for good radio. I mean, I wasn't involved at all and I was embarrassed. If anything, this made me want to change the channel, not listen on. How is this kind of thing helping their ratings?

I think I'm going to find that the answer lies in a shift between my values and the values of most Americans. We're talking about the same mentality that allows shows like Jerry Springer and Tom Green to continue on. People seem to genuinely enjoy the misery and suffering of others. Like a bad car wreck on the side of the road, they can't help but slow down to take a closer look.

This is a disturbing trend, and though I've long known about it, tonight's radio broadcast really hit it home for me. There's no need to go back to the Andy Griffith Show, but c'mon people, show some class.