I've shamelessly nicked this from Bruce Campbell's site because (a) I agree completely (and (b) he says it so damn well and (c) his eyes kept following me and I felt strangely compelled to spread the Gospel.

" Just between you and me, what's the deal with this whole "extreme" thing? I was in an unrated horror film called Evil Dead 20 years ago, so I know the meaning of the word, but do we really need to see a guy get liquidated on the side of a bus during Most Twisted Police Chases? Is good journalism defined by showing some poor bastard being electrocuted on a power line? Call me old-fashioned, but I don't think so.

Sports have led the charge in pushing the envelope. I've seen a few of those ESPN "extreme sports," and although mildly amusing, they should be renamed, Idiots Trying to Kill Themselves. Aren't we starting to feel a little bit like those Roman emperors, conjuring up new forms of decadence to keep us from, God forbid, being bored? You know things are bad when nature channels have shows like Extreme Earth.

Maybe too much entertainment is hazardous to our health. That may be an absurd statement coming from someone who makes his living in the same industry, but I'm serious.
I guess I'm just a simpleton, but when I was a kid in the 60's, playing in the dirt was enough to pass countless hours and I wasn't even raised by wolves. As a pre-Nintendo teenager, I spent entire days (during summer no less) fishing. When I sought out entertainment, it was usually in front of the TV watching insipid but harmless shows. How the hell did we get from the fantasy of Gilligan's Island to the hyper-reality of The World's Grossest Deaths in such a short time? What's next, The Carnage and Mayhem Channel?

Maybe I've been living in a dream world, but I don't recall a grassroots movement to demand the current brand of sensory overload entertainment. Imagine zipping off the following letter to your favorite network:

Dear Mr. Network Executive,
I am bored. Please make stuff that will shock and horrify me, or I will no longer support your sponsors.
John DoeAnytown USA.

The moral of this short story is simply to think about what's entertaining us and ask a few questions, like: will it make us feel better about ourselves or will it slam dunk our view of humanity into the dirt?

Does it bear repeating tomorrow around the water cooler, and if so, what will the conversation be?
"Joe, did you see when that guy running from the cops got hit by that beer truck?"
"Yeah - wow, what a mess!"


Most importantly, ask yourself if that video game, TV show or film is worth your precious time. Let's look beyond the road kill fascination and see what's really being offered up. If your favorite talk show requires a small army of security guards to keep toothless Grade School drop-outs from killing each other, that's cool, but you also have the right to turn the damn thing off. Give it a try some time - it's what you might call a "remote" possibility.

Best,Bruce Campbell"

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm in favour of sports like K-1, extreme skiing and so on. The participants are trained athletes/ professionals and it's fantastic to watch. I'll freely admit to cackling over some of the replays of K.O's or wipeouts.

What shivers my scales is the whole reality TV phenomena, a prime example being this quintessential bit of televised crap from our european cousins.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the term "eurotrash" was coined for a reason.

Seriously. Who the fuck watches crap like that? That is not entertainment.

That's just cause to haul out grandpa's WWII flamethrower and purge the world of sentient excrement.