Reality TV - What the???

This morning I got to thinking, what is with 'reality' shows? I have watched a few, and was just struck by how unrealistic they actually are. It seems there is a reality show for everything these days - cooking, house renovations, people famous for no particular reason ( the Kardashians anyone?), people watching TV (which is actually quite entertaining - the comments are hysterical). Some are supposed to be quite light hearted, others attempt to be serious.
I was originally going to write a post about cooking shows and how they are more about the drama than actual cooking but something has greatly annoyed me lately. Two reality shows have enraged me and I ranted to my partner about it (which he called me adorable which I AM NOT i was angry but that's not the point) and if my partner reads this he is likely to call me adorable again.

  

I am talking about the two reality shows Married at first sight and Seven year switch. I refuse to watch these shows. I do not like what they stand for. These shows make light of marriage and relationships. Let's start with the first one Married at first sight. For those of you who have not heard about this show, two complete strangers meet for the first time at their wedding. They get married in front of their friends and family to a complete stranger and suddenly find themselves living with someone they do not know. A few things about this concern me:

1. These people do not know each other. What is to say that one of them is not a complete psychopath? How do they know these people are not some crazy serial killer? Just because they have a clear police check does not mean they are not. It just means they have not been caught.

2. These are basically arranged marriages. Now I realise that in some cultures arranged marriages are part of the culture but not in Australia. Everyone has the right to choose who to marry.

3. These people seemed more concerned about a wedding and being on TV. That os not what marriage is about.

There are many more points I could make if I could bring myself to actually watch the show and well this is a blog post so now onto the second show.

Seven year switch made me quite angry when I first heard about it. To me, this show is condoning cheating. What sort of message does that send to young people? This show is saying if you get bored, go and find someone else. If you have problems in a relationship, do not go on national TV and air it, talk to each other privately, go to couples counselling, do something privately. The whole of Australia does not need to see your problems. I can't see problems being sorted this way.

I will continue to boycott these shows. What have we come to that we consider these sorts of things to be entertainment? other people's pain is not entertainment and should never be treated as such.