Lesson Two - Truth "An Endangered Species" part 1

"The most valuable commodity in the 21st century will be truth". - Pastor Del 2016

Truth – “An Endangered Species”  part one

In the 21st century, “truth” has become an endangered species. The belief in absolute moral standards, which once provided a foundation for truth, is slowly deteriorating due to the rise of amoral alternatives. The erosion continues beyond distinguishing fact from fiction, aiming to eliminate traditional standards of truth and replace them with non-traditional practices lacking any basis for truth.

Truth has become a much sought-after commodity as its seekers strive to determine if the facts presented to them are accurate or if the acquired information has been compromised.  Commodities traded in the marketplace have an attached valuation, which rises as the demand increases.  The cost of truth is rising and trading well beyond normal market standards making it harder to access for those who need it most.

Fundamental truth standards required to help people navigate through everyday life accurately and safely are increasingly becoming unreliable. Without truth standards, the ability to safely cross a street with high traffic volume diminishes.    

When news is misreported or distorted, it puts others at risk.  When false warnings become common, it makes it difficult to properly respond in true emergency situations.  The unspoken protocols that prompt people to line up in sequential order at a check-out stand are rooted in a truth standard that quietly promotes the rule of orderly assembly. Every time one standard begins to unravel, it makes it easier for the next, and there is no mechanism to remove some and preserve others.  Eventually, absent any preventive measures all standards will become less effective until they become extinct.

A living species does not become extinct overnight it is a slow death march.  Looking into the rearview mirror of contemporary culture are important markers that track the deterioration of truth in this generation.  When they occur, the evidence of future damage is not noticeable.  On the surface these events appear to be harmless.  Unfortunately, by the time a trail of evidence is identifiable, the damage is already done, and a new construct has begun to form.

Reality television is first on this list.  The very name is misleading because there was nothing “real” about Reality television except for the hoax that was imposed upon its audience.  Officially, the first form was presented in the well-known and beloved Candid Camera series.   The hoax was not actually deceptive because the producers allowed the audience to see behind the scenes to view the fictional characters before the false narrative was executed.  The success of this series laid the groundwork for the creation of the Americas Funniest videos.  This series inversed the plot of Candid Camera and used reels of actual recorded events that would normally be limited to a small audience in a family den.  The ratings success suggested that people wanted to see the upstaged incidents of falls, funny babies, and adult bloopers.

Candid Camera first aired in 1948.  America's Funniest Videos started airing in 1989, and as its audience grew, the Candid Camera series, after a brief hiatus and short return to the screen, would end in 2014.  In 2003, MTV, which stands for Music Television, dominated its market share from its inception in 1981 until the late 1990s.  In search of a new angle, MTV took the model of America’s Funniest Home Videos and intentionally altered the focus of the hoax.  Instead of giving the viewing audience a private seat of a real homemade event that seemed too funny to be true, the audience became the target in a new series called MTV's Punk'd.  The audience was introduced to seemingly improbable events unfold, presented as though they were real.  Each portrayal of events challenged the audience to determine if what they witnessed with their own eyes was true or false.

In hindsight, the gradual warming of the pot that began with Candid Camera continued to build on the audience's appetite for reality television until it reached a boiling point with the audience still in the pot.

Jerry Springer launched a talk show in 1989.  It was not original and followed the standard formats of other programs in that genre.  His ratings were sluggish during the show's first three years, and he was unlikely to survive another season with a market already flooded with the same type of program formats.  Mr. Springer convinced producers to allow him to push the tolerance threshold of his viewing audience.  With the success and attraction of newly labeled reality programs that gently invited the audience to accept questionable real events, he believed he could push further with a format never seen on television.   Twenty-four years later, Gerald Norman Springer would make the largest deposit of debauchery on daytime television.  The success of this show proved that America did not have a tolerance limit for crude and debased subject matters.  Many of his tabloid topics had truth origins but, in many cases, were intentionally embellished to feed the frenzy of his audiences.  The proof test of the Jerry Springer Show reveals that contemporary culture was thirsty for the obscene.  This program would not have survived a single season if the appetite and demand were not present in American culture.  Facts behind the show's history reveal ratings that at times rivaled the Oprah Winfrey Show and, on a few occasions, outpaced that show's ratings.  The comparison of ratings reveals competing appetites with truth struggling against a greater appeal for false, lewd, and crude narratives.

The market success of inaugural versions of reality television paved the way for more than 600 nuances with varying genres from dating to gaming.   Estimates show that nearly 80 percent of adult TV viewers watch perceived reality television.  In truth, the show is a collaboration between reality cast members, producers, and the onsite crew, including editors and even camera operators.   There is not a traditional written script as with standard television shows, which is the reason it is labeled as unscripted TV; however, it is not merely a camera capturing spontaneous interactions. The industry refers to the staged presentation as a “simulacrum,” imitating real life and not accurately reflecting reality. 

Participants are placed in artificial situations, fully aware that they are role-playing reactions to a camera.  Generally, the cast members are coached on their behavior to respond to the storylines written for them.  In some reality game shows, producers have been accused of skewing the outcome to favor a popular personality or underdog, whichever scenario potentially drives the best ratings.

The widespread influence of television media has conditioned global culture to accept false narratives as truth.  The false narrative role-play is featured in daily radio personas, shows up in social media reels, and is present in nearly every aspect of digital communication.  The ability to distinctively set truth and false presentations apart becomes more difficult day after day.