"Reality" Televison

In class we read "What happens when people stop being polite" by Chuck Kloserman. Klosterman made the point that people start acting like archetypes they see on TV. He was talking about The Real World TV show and how all the people on there are different and have different personalities but on the show they have a type they are supposed to represent. How if a person is black, everything they do or say on the show surrounds their race and how it is always brought up. As well as if a person is homosexual then they would always talk about that and that's what they would focus on. He was also trying to make the point that people would begin to act like those they seen on TV.

I don't think this is a very strong argument, we don't know them people on TV and although some of us might feel we have things in common with them, that doesn't mean we will begin to act like them or even do everything they are doing. I feel that we would never really know how the people act in "real life" because reality TV doesn't define who they are or show who they really are. With the way television manipulates its audience into believing that something is occurring when its not and cutting and pasting different sections of the day, we will never really know what is real or fake within reality TV. Although I could agree with him when he was making the point how the people who would be the next cast members would act like the ones that was on there before, but I think thats all it is... acting.