Grounded

I feel like I have been grounded. This "taking it easy" is definitely not my thing. I'm not used to laying around although on the upside of this I have read a book a day. I've never been one to watch much TV but I love to read.
Since I have been grounded I have kept the TV on and watched the offerings of the major channels. I know I mentioned Reality shows in a previous blog and here I am ready to expand on that.
I can't remember the correct names of the ones I've surfed into but one has to do with some guy who is supposed to be stranded in wilderness and shows his survival skills. My question is "who is filming this guy"? Where are the lighting people and the directors and the grips and the costumers?
How can viewers believe that this man is out there alone and subject to the wilds? I never understood the show ...the one actually named "Survivor". I think that is the one where all these people were supposedly dumped on an island where they competed against each other for food? for votes? When I would go to work, I would hear my co workers discussing this show. I don't believe I ever sat through one entire episode but again I'm wondering if my peers actually thought these people were in danger of starving to death? Then there is the Ozzie Osbourne one. I actually felt bad seeing ole Ozzie mumble his way through that. Can you say "dysfunctional family template".
American Idol? Do people actually believe those contestants (the off key, off tune) were the only ones they could find when interviewing for a spot on the show? Would anybody have watched if there weren't the ones we could laugh at?
Every day at lunch break, I would drift into the lunch room where there was a TV. Every day everyone gathered, flipped on the TV and watched the same soap opera! Everyday! It didn't take long before I scheduled my lunch break 1/2 hr before the regular break. I would use this time to catch up on the news.
Ok..just one more: The talk shows where everyone is screaming, crying or throwing something. The "guests" usually have a very southern accent, trashy clothes and limited vocabulary. Where do they find these people? and why in hell would any one of these people want to flaunt their stories for other people to hear? Shouldn't these be the family skeletons kept in the closet? Oh and I love the one where they have to do a DNA to determine the baby's father. How bad do you want to be on TV that you would appear to announce to the whole world you might be a bit slutty?

I don't know if I can take much more of this being "grounded".

"Keep em fed and give em mindless entertainment. Keep the sheep ignorant." I think our government depends on this and this is probably their motto.

The Europeans and Canadians stay more informed on the politics of this country then it's own citizens.
Our Canadian friends are more then happy to discuss our current events.
They are informed. I was surprised at how important our political scene is to the Europeans also; a superpower whose decisions affect the world.
A superpower who is now bankrupt; whose torture of prisoners, whose rape of the Constitution and whose citizens can't afford the basics in health care? I might need a new definition for "Super power".

(don't get me started on religion..another of those things I will never understand)