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Capitalism, FOX, and Reality TV

The FOX information control and manipulation corporation has an "entertainment" arm that has given us such wonderful treasures as "American Idol," "Paradise Island," and who could forget the television masterpiece, "Hole in the Wall"? In this tradition of excellence, they are about to debut their new endeavor, "The Secret Millionaire." The premise of the show is relatively simple: A millionaire lives and works amongst the working class for a week, and then picks the person most "deserving" (this is the actual word FOX is using in the previews) to get a monetary prize from said millionaire when he reveals his true identity. How noble of FOX! How philanthropic! What a wonderful thing to do for hard working poor people - give them money as a reward for the outward expression of morality and camaraderie! Can FOX save the world?

By now, dear reader, you may have detected the slight hint of sarcasm, which is odd, because the sarcasm should jump out and slap you around a little. How could such a seemingly innocent act of goodness be interpreted as anything but benevolent? As humanitarian?

The psychology upon which the show is based is a damaged one - it reinforces debased cultural norms as just that: normal. It is perfectly acceptable in our society to wear down the body and let the intellect stagnate for the procurement of meager amounts of capital that essentially only allows for the person to exist - to barely "make ends meet." We wil probably be introduced to characters that have attempted to alleviate such economic pressures with credit cards and debt economics. The "Average American" will be a hard working, barely surviving, debt saddled individual, but with a "heart of gold." The ugliness of it all, however, will be obscurred by the prospect of someone "good" being rewarded with a one way ticket out of American economic hell. We'll be distracted from the big picture as if we were marks in a televised game of three-card-monty.

Then, it will be reinforced, that it is only natural for the poor to want more. Who wouldn't? Beans and weenies versus lobster, right? Economic aspiration - the accumulation of wealth - is the good capitalist way, right? Forget that class is the primary (but not only) social division between Americans today. As a culture we have made great strides in defeating the negative "-isms" of our past: racism (or more accurately, ethnic differences), sexism, religious differences of all stripes. But class remains the dominant organizational paradigm for our society. Thus, what makes "Secret Millionaire" so novel is that a millionaire would mix with the working class so, but never forget, at the end of the show, the millionaire will "rescue" his new found buddies from their harsh economic circumstances. That someone would need "rescuing" from one of the fundamental laws of our economic system (wealth will accumulate in only a small percentage of the system) should make Americans angry, but alas, they will only clap.

Then there is the issue of morality. Most religions and spiritual systems equate morality with sacrifice. Being moral is often not easy, nor profitable. It is telling that this show will reward it with money, the ultimate tool of corruption. If you're good, you get paid. Miracles will happen for those who are unsatisfied with their lot, so long as they keep feeding the system that exploits their desperation and desires. My fear is that America will say: "awe, that was nice," and then get up at 5:30 the next morning, trudge to their 10 hours of lever pulling down at the cannery, all the while dreaming that the person who moves into that foreclosed home next door pulls up in a moving van that says FOX on the side.

If we are to survive as a nation, but more importantly, as a species, we will need to transform our world into one that sees philanthropy as a failure of the very system itself. Philanthropy such as this is like Morphine, it makes you feel good, but only masks the pain - making one either not feel, or not care, about the real problem. And to televise it is sheer psychological vulgarity, and is proof that there really was not a philanthropic spirit in the development of this show in the first place.

Shame on FOX. Again.