We Are All Living in a Reality Show

Elon Musk, and others, have often postulated that we are all living in a computer generated simulation, created by a superior intelligence.

He is wrong.

We are all living in a never-ending Reality TV show, created by, well, let’s say, not a superior intelligence.

Since the election of Donald Trump, our lives, (as now lived in endless online sites from TikTok to CNN) have been experienced through the media. And the media, driven by ratings and nothing else, looks for the next hit of heroin. The media demands ratings.

Donald Trump, the product of ten years of training under Mark Burnett, a man who understood ratings and invented crises, learned how to create event after event to keep the audience both entertained and glued to the screen. The Apprentice was a #1 show for NBC for a decade for a reason, even it was all faked. That was a lesson that Trump brought to the realm of politics and government, and now, we are all living in Donald Trump’s never-ending Reality TV show, from which we cannot escape. It’s not about decency, it’s not about the law, it’s not about the Constitution. It’s all about the ratings.

The foundation of any successful Reality TV show (and I have produced many) is to never let up on the action, or the surprises. Most Reality TV shows are also completely fake and highly directed and produced. You can’t sit around and wait for stuff to happen — that would be too expensive — you have to continually create crises. This was Donald Trump’s school and he learned the lessons extremely well. Now, we are all participants, whether we like it or not, in The Donald Trump Show Starring Donald Trump. And all of it is fake, but it is exquisitely designed to grab and hold our attentions. Here is a man who judges everything not by the quality of decision making (nor by the Constitution, for that matter) but only by ratings. And The Donald Trump Show Starring Donald Trump rates.

The thing about a Reality Show stunt is also that you can’t linger on it for too long. It has to be immediately replaced by another stunt and then another one. Thus, the invasion of Greenland (now long since forgotten), the annexation of Canada, (likewise), the retaking of Panama (ditto), the attacks on Washington law firms, CBS News, NPR, the VOA, the political rally at West Point, The New York Times, Apple, the birthday parade — you get the idea. It’s endless. Yes it is exhausting but it all has a purpose — to keep the ratings up; to grab your attention and hold it.

The thing about Reality TV, like heroin addiction, is that each successive hit has to be bigger than the last.

The most recent hit of ratings heroin, and certainly the most egregious so far (with I am sure far worse to come) was his recent military show — not the parade, that was just the warm up. No, it was the bombing of the Iranian underground nuclear factories. What great TV! Really. The whole world was mesmerized — and the master STAR OF THE SHOW (note all caps), said, “I may or may not do it. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t). This is what we call building tension in TV land.

Then, wham, the big reveal.

It seems, (and this is hardly surprising) that the Iranians had in fact, already removed the centrifuges and the enriched uranium long before the bombs arrives. Maybe they had been tipped off? Maybe they just figured it out in advance? In either case, boom but no boom, really.

CNN, The New York Times, THE BBC, and just about everyone else has reported on a leaked DOD intelligence analysis that said that the bombing actually had little real impact. You can’t do that in Reality TV. You cannot undermine the stunt! So Trump, master showman that he is, reacted immediately, and all in caps.

FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY. THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!”

And then, the Iranians, getting the whole Reality TV ethos, bombed our base in Qatar, but not before alerting us that that was what they were going to do, we there was time to clear the planes and keep everyone safe.

It’s all kabuki theater. It’s all to entertain and amuse the masses (that’s us). Nothing is real.

Is this upsetting? Is this a bit hard to believe. Well, believe it. After all, House Hunters is totally faked (didn’t you know that), but it’s HGTV’s.#1 rated show. What works for HGTV works for DOD.

Just ask our Secretary of Defense. He knows all about ratings. How do you think he got his job?