MTV's Fakeroversy Shore

Once again, MTV (whose call letters stand for Music TeleVision, but yet whose station doesn't actually play any music) has found itself a pretty good fakeroversy (fake + controversy = fakeroversy), this time in the form of something called "Jersey Shore".

According to the huffy folks over there at The Huffington Post, the show "...depicts Italian-American beachgoers as the "hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos" ." OK, then. One of the ads for the show boasts that the participants "keep their hair high, their muscles juiced and their fists pumping all summer long!" Ooh! How exciting! Um, or not. But see, I hear something like that and I just think "To each their own. Their moronic, brainless, waste of time, own." But not everyone sees it like that.

Take UNICO. They don't take it that way at all. In case you're wondering (as I was) what the heck a UNICO is, let me just tell you, it's not one of those mythical horses with one horn sprouting from the top of their head. No, that's a unicorn. This is different. UNICO bills themselves as "The Largest Italian American Service Organization In the USA". (Why no, I do not know why everything is capitalized besides 'the'.) For the record, UNICO stands for "Unity, Neighborliness, Integrity, Charity and Opportunity." I'm not sure why the part about them being Italian based isn't in that title. I was betting that part on the "I", but that's not it. Anyway, they're not happy about this Jersey Shore thing at all. According to a letter that they sent to MTV and which they posted on their website “In the name of decency and fairness to millions of Italian Americans....I am writing to your office to demand that you immediately pull this series before it airs."

So, they're talking about "decency" and yet they go on to "demand". I'm not so sure that I'm associating "demanding" with "decency", to tell you the truth.

The UNICO folks go on to complain that Jersey Shore “sends the wrong message” to all as a whole by promoting and glamorizing poor behavior, the use of ethnic stereotypes, racial and ethnic slurs." Now hold on just a minute folks. Let's just simmer down here and look at that argument rationally, OK?

They're basically admitting that the folks in this show (the "Guidos" as the MTV folks call them) are engaging in poor behavior, using ethnic stereotypes and promoting the racial and ethnic slurs. Why is their problem with MTV and not with the people who are acting this way? Is it truly a "stereotype" if that's how people really are? I'm not so sure that it is.

Here's the part that these folks miss: Not everyone in this country is a racist. Not everyone in this country buys into the falsehood that if you see something on TV, then it has to be real. Why can't the people on this show just be seen as the Cast of Dumbasses? (If, in fact, that's what they are; I haven't watched the show, so I have no idea if they're dumbasses or not, though I doubt they spend entire episodes studying for calculus exams at the nation's highest universities or gathered around the kitchen table holding deep discussions about the intricacies of Cap and Trade.)

I don't see why the actions of a few have to dictate the assessment of the whole. Please. Give people enough credit to realize that these folks who are on the Guido Show or whatever it's called are doing so because (and stay with me here) they want to be. They don't care that they're like that. They don't understand that the majority of people are not like that and, more importantly, the don't understand the the majority of people don't want to be like that. What they really don't understand is that people who watch the Dumbass Hour or whatever it's called, aren't doing so for any reason other than sheer entertainment that comes at the expense, not the company, of others.

Lay off the fakeroversy building and the demanding and the attacks on everyone who isn't of the same ethnic background as you are. Could you please give a little bit more credit to those who are not a member of your ethnic group? Please? We're not so dumb that we see one portrayal of a group of people (on freaking MTV no less! MTV! The home of Jackass!) and we automatically assume that it is an accurate portrayal of how EVERYONE in that ENTIRE ethnic group behaves with their every waking breath. I am over you people.

If their behaviors and their attitudes are so detrimental, UNICO can only hope that the participants get a taste of what real life is like when you're like that and that MTV will air it. And from what I've heard, that might actually be happening. From what I understand, one of the cast members was mouthing off with profanities to some dude in some bar and the dude punched her in the face. I'm not a fan of violence, but I'm also not a fan of not understanding reasons why you shouldn't say certain things to certain people. Is it wrong that a guy hit a girl? Sure it is. I'm not saying it's not wrong. All I'm saying is I understand.

moreless