06.14.00

So anyhow, I was ill today (I'm currently on sinus/antihistamine/sore throat drugs, waiting for them to kick in. For all that the Slug tells me it isn't flu season, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what this was.. I've got the little shooting pains in my knees and elbows (I call them "PacMans") that heralds something really ucky.

I left work early, and came home. Daytime TV really sucks.

Having nothing better to do with my sick self, I channel surfed for a while, stopping at the "Sally" show, where she was subjecting "wild" teens to a lie detector test to see if they fucked, did drugs, stole, whatever. What a complete invasion of privacy!

They had this horrid "tough love" type counselor on to tell these kids that they needed to go into counseling, their parents loved them, get off drugs, etc. She really annoyed me.

But the part that pissed me off the most, there was this really pretty girl, trying to be tough, trying to be older. The test showed that she didn't sleep around, didn't steal, didn't do drugs, anything. Her foster parents, a shifty looking blonde woman and a man who looked like he had no backbone whatsoever were there with her.

As the counselor was telling this girl, who, to my eyes is undergoing typical 14-year-old trauma, that she should (everyone, sing along!) see a counselor, the blonde was giving the poor girl these slanty, "you can't be trusted," evil looks. Of course, the counselor was going on about how these people loved her, wanted her, all that.

I wanted to throw something at the screen.

What is the fascination with these shows, where ugly people share their ugly secrets and ugly lives? (I'm not talking about physical beauty here, I'm talking about class, common sense, intelligence, all of the virtues associated with people that would never *dream* of showing up on a show like that.)

Where do these people get off splattering their psychodramas all over the country? And why do we tolerate it?