Good evening all,
All I have to say is. Snooki was a speaker at a graduation!!!!
I should end this post here and let you, the reader, come up with your own thoughts. But that would defeat the purpose of this Blog. It is, after all, Just 1 Man's Thoughts. So, that being said, let me inform you all what I think.
How on earth have we gotten to the point in our society where a well respected University (I'll protect the name of the school as I dont want them to send any muscle bound guidos to my front door to fist pump, GTL, and profess their love of all things Italian), thought it was appropriate to have Snooki from The Jersey Shore address a class of graduating collegiate seniors??? Sounds like a great idea!!.....NOT
I recall when graduation speakers were well educated, successful, people who actually had something to offer by speaking to graduates. How does Snooki qualify?? As embarassed as I am to admit it, I've seen a few episodes of The Jersey Shore. It does not take much more than that to come to the conclusion that the cast of that show are, for lack of a better, a bunch of tools. First of all, I cannot believe that our society encourages this behavior, and not only that, will pay to see it. I mean, the cast members of that show, are now practically millionaires as a result of what?? I have yet to identify a talent, that should put them in a position to earn nearly a million dollars. Physicians, teachers, police officers, military, all of whom spend a great deal of time in school, training, and honing their craft, do not even come close to making this kind of a living. Yet, if you spray tan, drink excessively, fight, be promiscuous, treat others with NO respect, get arrested, and act as if you have no respect for yourself, not only will you succeed, there is a chance of being rich and famous. Is this really the message we want our collegiate graduates receiving?? If I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars sending my kid to college and as I look at the graduation announcement seeing Snooki as the speaker, I'm demanding my money back.
This era of reality TV is a very slippery slope. Children are so impressionable, soaking things up like sponges, by watching what they feel is "reality", It's no wonder they grow up with a warped perception of how life should be. It is an etirely differnt blog I can write about how parents no longer monitor what their children watch. Not only do children watch what they want, often times they are watching these shows in their rooms with no parent to discuss what's wrong with what is being shown to them. Remember the days where there were NO TVs in children's rooms, and you watched TV as a family (ahhhh, the good ole days). (Keep posted for following up on that comment). If I was a hormone crazed teen watching reality TV, alone to make my own judgements on the appropriateness of what I'm watching, I can imagine the conclusions I'd come up with. I mean, hey, if this is reality TV, this must be how the real world is.
Now we have to worry about. If you survive your Highschool years without doing something to sabotage your future, you get into college, and work hard enough to graduate. Now the last thing you hear before being set out into the workforce, is a speech by one of the cast members of not just a realit show, one of the most infamous shows on TV. Talk about an insult. You mean, I've worked so hard to graduate, now I have some uneducated, floozy speaking to me about my graduation and what to expect in the post college world.
Ok, so it's not just The Jersey Shore that contributes to this problem. The amount of reality shows that are on every network at all hours of the day provide numerous opportunities for young, impressionable teens to make their own assessments of what is reality and how they want their own reality to be. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons of why our society as become what it has. In my experience the number of young people with no desire to study, to work, to treat themselves with respect, and do something positive with their lives is steadily decreasing. I cannot blame them. We as a society are failing our youth.
To finish this post, I'd like to encourage all parents out there to play an active role in bringing up your children. Engage them with questions about what they've seen on TV, that will allow for future dialogue between you and yours. Encourage them to speak freely about what they are exposed to, that is the one of the only ways to police their behavior. If you can do this from an early age, talking about difficult topics will become easier. If your fortunate enough to have your child graduate from college, demand a speaker that will actually deliver useful information that can ensure they use their degrees to attain financial and emotional independence. But for the love of God, do not send them to a school that thinks that Snooki serves as a useful speaker at graduation.
I know a lot of you may like The Jersey Shore, and I apologize for using ur beloved Snooki as my example. You cant be too mad at me though. These are, after all, Just One Man's Thoughts
One Love,
Anthony
