MTV's Jersey Shore Controvery: Shaun Hautly

Jersey Shore represents everything I hate about television. Stupid, petty reality shows which show no character development or plot, just angry, shallow "entertaining" people getting upset and animated. I've only seen clips of the show on 3 or 4 occasions, but that's enough to snap judge the entire series.

I've written before about how celebrity scandals are destroying our role models, but this goes a step father by never establishing them at all. When we put 4 vain, selfish, ignorant people in the spotlight and worship them, we're saying that this is what you need to be famous. Those kids are making money right now just for being their awful selves. That's what we're encouraging by watching.

I don't think MTV will cancel the show because it's borderline discrimination. It's Italian Americans calling themselves “guidos.” If Irish Americans were saying it, that would be grounds for cancellation, but as it stands, they're fine. They're killing the ratings and people are continuing to watch. I think MTV has learned that you have to push buttons and step on toes to get attention, but once you get attention, you get money. And everyone loves money. If we stop watching, they cancel it. If we keep talking about it, they keep it. The choice is ours.

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