Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

i've come to realize one of America's largest problems is what i call "Anxiety TV." Anxiety TV are shows like 24, Court TV, the Lifetime Channel, COPS, etc. These are shows that generate high strung situations that impel viewers into a state of stress. Yes, stress. It's the cliche, Hollywood tension that has become overdone in order to generate a constant sense of suspense that hooks viewers. From afar, viewers can watch as voyeurs into a pseudo-fantasy realm that is cathartic. Yet it also has a negative effect of increasing people's sense of insecurities. Channels like Lifetime prey on women's fears through a naive feminine viewpoint. CourtTV constantly plays cop type of dramas that exhibit polarized types, namely good cop bad robber. Wrestling (which I am a fan of) pits stereotypes into worked situations that are meant to draw people in through focusing on storylines based on recent events, politics, or cultures. I can go on about how these elements are played out. But instead I want to focus on is the net effect. This form of entertainment (if you to describe it as such) is similar to riding a rollercoaster for a cheap thrill. Or gambling in Vegas. It's the absent adrenaline rush from our ordinary lives. With postmodernization people are trapped in the corporate world of strict business rules, 9-5 work days, and otherwise uneventful and unmeaningful existence. Couple that with America's passion for unhealthy food (namely the fast type and restaurants that serve up blood pressure increasing dishes), America has become a spot of insecurity, anxiety and depression. Yes, depression. I've noticed a massive increase in advertisements for programs to help solve depression after 9-11. Then you have all these other related issues that are leftovers from the economic recession of the dot com bubble such as high medical cost, inflated housing prices, job security worries, and increasing bills from other areas like gas, phone, cable. Honestly, I find this to be somewhat of an elaborate conspiracy, not in a centralized spot, but by separate machines working against each other that has sent America into a spiral of paranoia and anxiety. Since coming back, I've found myself more tense than usual. People are worse on the road than ever. I'm constantly worried about my family because of their economic situation. And my health has taken a southern turn. The problem is that there aren't real support groups. Well, there are but they are only in it for money as the machine of capitalism continues to consume this society while businesses spring up to assault each of these areas. But it really doesn't do anyone any good in the long term. It's become a rat race. And TV helps propel this sensation. I can no longer watch TV because everything is done in a hypermode, something where people aren't allowed to digest what goes on, instead spewing action and fast dialogue to assault the senses and utilize rhetoric to make one feel small and helpless. The funniest thing about all this is the ease of escape. All you have to do is pull your electrical cord out of your TV, shut off your phones, and escape to a mountain for real peace. Yet it seems as though this culture that has been created and validated has become unescapable. People are addicted to their TV shows, their food, their movies, this material world that defines nothing except their economic class. I was growing extremely disgusted with my coworkers' monstrous addiction to TV at my last company. Nearly all their references came from some pop culture element like TV or movies. But why care so much about something that you're far removed from? I feel the notion of Hollywood life is so far (despite the fact that i was working in West Hollywood). but i'm talking about this portrayed glamorous image that you see from magazines and entertainment news shows. you feel low and jealous because you can't attain the same level. what frustrates me is that despite this, we somehow support them haplessly. i spend my hard earned money rather than on my health on products like DVDs to further embellish these peoples' lives. yet they never give anything back to us. more anxiety TV. yes, i'm on a boycott of these things. the thing though is that sometimes it's impossible to escape it. i made a horrible mistake at the start of the year in agreeing to pick up cable TV. horrible idea! now my mom cannot stop watching programs that validates her insecurities. everytime the TV is on, i want to puke. i want to vomit out this culture of anxiety and cleanse my system. but i will return to Japan and be removed from this. no more American anxiety TV for me. no more false advertisement that brainwashes me into thinking things like Taco Bell is good food. i want to define my life around my peers and get as far away from this diseased, decadent culture as possible. i can't even utilize the word culture here because that usually implies a socially enriching phenomenon. instead, it feels only like....death here.