it happened eaerlier at a washington wizards game. the guy came out of a costume

I blame Reality TV. It's making our entire culture dumber, meaner, and sleazier.

If the basketball fans aren't outraged that the management would think so little of them as human beings that it would assume a painful and tearful jilting would be appreciated as entertainment, they certainly should be.

Poor basketball fans--if they aren't getting beaten up by roid-raging players rushing into the bleachers, they're getting their intelligence spat upon via cheap stunts.

Barghest said:

"I blame Reality TV. It's making our entire culture dumber, meaner, and sleazier."

I think you may have that backwards. I don't think that art, entertainment or culture come from nowhere. I think they're a reflection of the society in which they originate. Either way, it doesn't say much about us, does it?

::sigh::
I'm going to have to destroy my T.V. soon.

This sounds like a great idea for a movie!!!

My fiance and I were at a Trailblazers game last week and the same thing happened. They have a "kiss cam" that shows up on the giant monitor with a heart around any given two people who are then supposed to kiss. When it landed on one particular guy, some text appeared saying "will you marry me" and the next thing you saw was the girl dumping popcorn all over him, ripping the flowers out of the hand of the mascot that was standing right there and throwing them down, and running out of the arena. I would have thought it was real, except for the video I saw somewhere on one of the internets (mentioned above as the guy-in-costume).

There was an episode a year or two ago of "the Jamie Kennedy Experiment" (an edgy, x-treme, mountain-dew-soaked "Candid Camera" clone) where they pulled this stunt. Jamie Kennedy was playing the wedlock-blocked guy. That might have been the orgin for this idea.

Barghest correctly observed:
"I blame Reality TV. It's making our entire culture dumber, meaner, and sleazier."
... and Maegan said:
"::sigh::
I'm going to have to destroy my T.V. soon."

Don't wait.
I got rid of my TV about 15 years ago, and I've been smarter, kinder, and less sleazy ever since. Also a lot less depressed.

Hey, if everybody got rid of their televisions then they could all spend more time on the internet. That's gotta be a good thing.

I remember the earlier incident from the news reports about it about a year to eighteen months ago. It made a lot of sports clip segments and I heard from a friend of mine that she later accepted. What my friend said was she was overwhelmed and paniced. I hadn't heard about this one.

But if I got rid of my tv, I couldn't watch cartoons (more Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy/less Yugioh), the History Channel, John Stewart, and my tapes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Shows which make me smarter and more thoughtful if anything.

>>>I think you may have that backwards. I don't think that art, entertainment or culture come from nowhere. I think they're a reflection of the society in which they originate.<<<

I possibly should have said Society rather than Culture. At any case, it's a deadly feedback loop.

I don't think people demand shittier, meaner television. I think unscrupulous corporate networks put out what they think will be popular, and complacent slobs simply accept it. Then they become accustomed to it.

Which implies that if the forces of decent humanity were to somehow get more thought-provoking and uplifting television out there, it would start to unmuddy the cultural waters. I can dream, anyway.

I didn't get rid of my television. I did cancel cable TV. I watch DVD's now.

I only miss The Simpsons and The Daily Show. Too bad they'll never release the latter on disks.

I found out that having only the local channels and PBS is the best way to go. You don't miss news; you also have bunch of great PBS shows on. I don't like the dramas/most reality shows/most sitcoms anyway so I can't watch those even if you offer me money. I don't miss cable at all.

Barghest said
"if the forces of decent humanity were to somehow get more thought-provoking and uplifting television out there, it would start to unmuddy the cultural waters. I can dream, anyway."

It's called the Hallmark channel... and it sucks!