Dance Moms and Housewives

I've been having an ongoing debate with friends and family, during which I've been promoting the theory that the rise of trashy reality television has enabled the rise of Trump. In my opinion, shows like Dance Moms, Hell's Kitchen, Real Housewives, Apprentice, Mob Wives, etc. have lowered America's sense of dignity and decency. If so, Trump was already normalized before he ever came down that escalator. I refuse to believe 62 million Americans are racists and/or misogynists, but perhaps the electorate had already become inured to his behavior.

I agree with Erik. I watch Dance Moms knowing it is trash. It's mostly a guilty pleasure. And I like to make fun of it. Definitely horrified by Trump.

Alex Kulak2 said: "I think the reality show craze isn't the cause, but it's a symptom of the cause. It's the rise of anti-intellectualism that led to the rise of Trump. It's glorifying those who are content with the refusal of bettering themselves that has led to a Trump Presidency"

From your comment, I'm going to guess you've never actually watched any of them. The shows don't glorify them. They are almost always edited to make the people on them look as nasty, selfish, unlikable and foolish as possible. And as many of them are about arrogant, insufferable rich people as they are about backwoods yokels with missing teeth and 5th grade educations. Those rich people are ALWAYS trying to better themselves and their shallowness and desperation in doing so causes people to watch. Most people watch them as a guilty pleasure because the drama is amped up to 1000 and even very smart people enjoy watching conflict and drama cause it's entertaining, not because most people admire them or want to be like them. And these reality shows have been around 15-20 years. They started way before Trump and even Obama. Local news is no different. "if it bleeds, it leads" has been a common catchphrase in local news for 30+ years, long before Trump ever became a major public figure.. Why? Because conflict and drama draws attention. You ever see the local news do a story about a building with up to code wiring and state of the art alarms that didn't catch on fire?

"Anti-Intellectualism" or as we say in my neighborhood, less educated people who don't trust smart, successful people have been around forever, it hasn't just risen in the past 5-10 years. What the rise of social media has done is caused us to now be more aware of them than ever before but they've always been there. Some of them are hatemongers, prejudiced people and white supremacists. Trump saw an opportunity to exploit them, to normalize them, bring them forward and say it's OK to say publicly what they've always said privately amongst themselves for years. These folks got the most coverage cause they were the most offensive, certainly the most vocal and made for the best TV. But a lot of them and quite honestly, the people who created Trump's margin of victory, rather than being people "who are content with the refusal of bettering themselves" are in fact, people who are desperate to better themselves, fueled by jealousy more than racism, hurt by the downturn of 2007/8 and feeling left out of and left behind by the recovery other people were experiencing. Trump saw that and spoke directly to them. You and I can look at the things he promised and know most of it will never happen but to these people it was hope and to them Clinton was just more of the same. I don't believe there is any relation between reality shows and Trump's rise.

Having been a dance parent with my wife for many years when our daughters were growing up, trust me that show is fairly accurate from what I have heard about the show. Saw way too many "Dance Mom's" living their dreams through their daughters/sons. As for reality shows, they are cheap and make money so they are hear to stay. I have always wondered how you can say anything is a reality show when people know the camera is watching them.

It's glorified by its ratings. Whether we make fun of it or not, it IS glorifying the behavior, the substance of the shows.



I think a simple example is what became of Real World. The first season or two were earnest and thought provoking. Then people (producers and cast wannabees alike) started outdoing the season before: more drinking, more hook ups, more fights....etc.

It's highly schandenfreude, but since it endorses the behavior, the public is to blame.



They will only stop when the shows cease to make money.

The point I was trying to make wasn't that anyone who watches reality TV, even trashy shows, would automatically be a Trump supporter. Rather, that the language and behavior on such shows have become so pervasive in society that, to many, Trump was not as offensive as he might have otherwise been. In my opinion, in the absence of these shows, more folks would have Trump's comments disturbing. In other words, the rise of these shows had already normalized him.

Updated On: 1/23/17 at 01:49 PM