Many of you will remember a TV sitcom from the 1990’s that carried the title ”Men Behaving Badly.” I must confess I never watched the show although I found the title to be appropriate. In my short time on earth I have to admit that I’ve seen many cases where we men acted stupidly. Whether it was drinking alcohol to excess, fighting, using illegal drugs, or cheating on our women, some of us have acted badly. What’s worse is that often we are proud of our bad behavior. Somehow we think it makes us manly, even macho.
It seemed when I was younger, in middle and high school, that girls liked that kind of guy. In later years the term “bad boy” was coined to describe a wild, reckless, and irreverent man. Although we men sometimes engaged in irresponsible behavior, we never thought that women would. The girls we pursued as teenagers grew up to be ladies who exercised restraint in their conduct that would take years for us to master. There was comfort in knowing that women knew how to act.
Unfortunately, that is often not the case in the year 2012. The last ten years have brought us a new TV genre called “reality television.” In reality TV, a film crew follows ordinary citizens and films their interactions. Viewers quickly find out that these are not regular citizens and that their actions range from self serving narcissism to unbridled violence.
Sadly, the stars of these reality shows are overwhelmingly women. The lengths to which these women frequently go to snub, ridicule, discredit, and attack each other is truly sad to see. Sadder still is the fact that so many of us tune in each week to watch the carnage. I often wonder what affect these shows will have on our children as they watch adults displaying juvenile behavior.
I think these shows had their genesis as a result of two long running shows; the Jerry Springer Show and the Maury Povich Show. Each of these shows have been on for over twenty years and each has its own brand of bawdiness. The Jerry Springer Show uses an ambush technique to spring an indiscretion such as infidelity by one member of a couple on the other. The Maury Povich Show has as its high point the results of a DNA test determining paternity. Each show uses a studio audience that hypes the participants on stage to the point of tears and violence. It’s a proven formula that consistently produces high ratings for these shows while desensitizing us to the plight of those involved.
The case of one young woman who was a frequent guest on The Maury Povich Show, was particularly sad. She was brought on the show numerous times along with a different potential father of her young child. Each time when the results were revealed to be negative, she would cry, the man would rejoice, and the crowd would scream. Surely this situation was not one we should consider entertainment.
These shows, while partially scripted, show women to be as irresponsible as men. The situation is made worse when the women are mothers. This was shown to me most recently on an episode of the Judge Judy Show. In this episode, Judge Judy presided over a case where a mother and her four sisters went to another mother’s house to attack her with a knife and a baseball bat. In this case, there wasn’t any scripting. These were real litigants in a court of law because of stupid, childish behavior.
I think that some women are now behaving like thugs instead of ladies. This boorish behavior is bad enough when the perpetrators are men. It is a sign of how far our sense of decency and civility have fallen when our women, especially our mothers, behave in this manner.
So I have something to say to the women who exhibit such poor behavior. Grow up and act like a lady and not a fool!!!!!!!!!!
What do you say?