Dumb and dumber

If politics were reality TV, democracy would mean electing the most-popular idols on TV shows through a cellular phone short message service (SMS).

For those who love watching reality shows there is nothing wrong with sending SMS messages to vote for their idols -- indeed in this country's it's a burgeoning craze.

Most people would say, surely, that no one has the right to erode this support for such an odd fad, especially as TV-station programmers say they are only responding to public demand.

However, one could also argue that such demand appeared only after TV stations began aggressively airing reality shows, like AFI, Indonesian Idol and Kontes Dangdut Indonesia (KDI), which have now become "basic needs" for many viewers.

Reality shows are part of a huge business cycle, which supposedly benefits all those involved, although it could be argued viewers get only pseudo satisfaction by being marginally -- sorry, interactively -- involved in the drama. However, to the programmers the viewers are nothing more than "fund-raising" objects.

Those concerned with education have long complained about such reality shows, which they contend do not contribute anything to learning and actually remove their child stars away from their studies by isolating them in "special training" sessions for several months. Thanks to the never-ending advertisements for these shows, the parents also enjoy them.

In short, TV viewers are suffering from "reality-show fever", a sickness brought on by too many inept and vacuous entertainment shows.

Quiz shows are other questionable programs that in many ways ignore people's real intelligence. In a hypothetical situation a postgraduate student loses in a quiz, which offers big money, simply because he does not know the measurements of a table tennis table. The question by the quiz host is somewhat ridiculous in the first place and propagates the wrong notions of what intelligence is -- not analysis, criticism or extrapolation -- but general knowledge.

It is now obvious the media and the public can do nothing to defend the people's right to get more quality programs on TV stations.

While controversy lingers about the worth of these shows, TV viewers have been offered other meaningless programs, which also interactively involve them -- again through SMS messages.

It is quite difficult to understand why Penghuni Terakhir (The Last Dweller) and Touch the Car would be attractive to TV viewers.

Penghuni Terakhir is a contest in which participants live in a house and are expelled by viewers -- it offers a Rp 1 billion house as it's highest prize, while Touch the Car is an endurance contest in which the participants' stamina is tested by having to continually touch a car for three days without interruption.

Viewers are asked to choose their favorites contestants.

Again neither program has anything of significance to offer to the public. Viewers watch how the Penghuni Terakhir participants express their "determination" to win the contest and how they are expelled because they get the least number of SMS votes from the viewers. The expulsion round takes place once a week, while other episodes show the contestants quarreling with each other over trivial things.

In Touch the Car a participant who touches the car the longest is declared the winner and has the right to take the car home.

Producers of the shows often suggest people who dislike reality shows just turn off the box or change the channel.

However, the problem is the commitment of the media to provide educational material on television.

Aren't there any quality alternatives to offer during prime time when children are watching?

The quality of the country's human resources is at a disturbing level, and a proactive media, along with a better education system would improve the situation.

While the government has a limited budget to improve the quality of education, all levels of society, including the media, should work to solve this sorry state of affairs.

Entertainment or reality shows should not necessarily be banned. But anything which threatens to retard the country's intellectual development should be shelved.

Otherwise, our society will get dumb and dumber as our neighbors get smarter.