OPINION We delight in humiliation, especially on TV

By BARRY KOLTNOW
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Television used to be the medium of nice.
If you wanted to see nasty people doing nasty things, you went to the movies. Not anymore.
All the nastiness you could ever want is as close as your remote control.
Make no mistake; there is a great deal of nastiness still going on in feature films. Tom Hanks, of all people, is robbing a casino and then trying to kill an elderly woman in "The Ladykillers." It doesn't get much nastier than that.
But it's make-believe. In fact, it's played for laughs. It might not make you laugh, but at least you know it's a work of fiction.
It's for real
However, this is the era of reality television, and that means that the nastiness is played for real.
Do you think that 30 million people tune into "American Idol" each week just because they like the music? Do you think it's because Paula Abdul is so sweet?
Of course not. They tune in because they want to hear how Simon Cowell will humiliate somebody this week. More important, they tune in because they get to take part in the humiliation by voting people off the show.
"American Idol" may be the most violent show to ever air on television. It is the modern equivalent of feeding the Christians to the lions in the Roman Coliseum -- with Simon playing the fiddle as the home audience offers its career life-and-death decisions with an upward or downward thumb.
The nastiness continues elsewhere on the dial.
"Survivor" has many of the same ingredients for success as "American Idol" in that someone's dream is crushed on a weekly basis. Apparently, this passes for entertainment in our society.
Do you really think that America loves Donald Trump? What's to love? His ego? His wealth? His hair?
It's not funny
No, America loves The Donald because they enjoy watching him skewer an ambitious and obnoxious Donald Trump-wanna-be each week. He does to those contestants on "The Apprentice" what the general public wanted to do to Trump a few years ago, before NBC turned him into a media darling.
I am outraged that this egomaniacal blowhard is a genuine American hero, and that the words "You're fired!" have become a playful addition to the pop lexicon. I'm sure there are millions of hard-working folks around the country who find no humor in those words.
"Fear Factor" is a bit of TV nastiness unlike others of its ilk because it includes the degradation of being forced to eat worms, but it has the one common element of all these shows -- humiliation.
Apparently, the viewing public can't get enough of other people's humiliation. I suppose it makes us feel better about ourselves. Will Rogers hit it on the head when he said that "Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else."
And how about "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance?"
Here's an actor who was paid to lie to this woman, who then lied to her family for money. What a warm and fuzzy concept. Once again, the attraction was the opportunity to see her family's humiliation at the wedding.
"The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Average Joe" offer some revenge nastiness for all the viewers who were dumped by good-looking people at some time in their lives. It must be fun to watch good-looking people being dumped. Otherwise, I can't explain the popularity of these shows.
I've saved the worst for last.
To me, the nastiness on television reaches its zenith (or low point) on cable's paparazzi shows "Celebrities Uncensored" and "Hollywood Hunt Club."
The "art" of celebrity photography is glorified to a point of nausea on these programs. It would be a mystery to me how someone thought these dregs of society deserved to be rewarded with their own TV show if not for "The Apprentice."
I'm sure that some clever TV producers studied the success of "The Apprentice" and wondered how they could cash in on this strange fascination with characters like Donald Trump. They finally came up with an even more unlikely hero than Trump.
Now, you know that I am the last person in the world who would advocate treating celebrities with anything but complete disdain, but even I have to draw the line at airing TV shows that glorify -- and even justify -- what these stalker-photographers do to famous people.
Yes, we all have a fascination with the real lives of celebrities. And when a celebrity is out on the town, I agree that they are pretty much fair game.
But they are human beings, and what some of these celebrity stalkers do is nothing short of criminal. In fact, in a civilized society, it should be criminal.
Instead, we live in a society that delights in watching the humiliation of others, particularly if it's on TV.