Kid Nation

[PLFXpert 0]

I did a quick search--hopefully not a repost.

Kid Nation.

Promo.

Discuss.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[TrophyHusband 0]

after spending so much time picking up after my monsters, i've wondered what they would do for a week left to their own devices. i wouldn't want to do it in my house though.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[lurch 0]

The outcome of this is a foregone conclusion because it is actually a civics lesson disguised as mindless trash TV intended to teach simple lessons about cooperation and self-organized teamwork to children of the same age as the ones depicted in the show. The kids will succeed alright, after several major crises in which they all had to pull together give and take orders and work as a team with a great deal of rah-rah enthusiasm and dramatized "will they make it?" fear and tension intended to keep the kids in a "what do we do?" learning mode.

The adults the show tries to make a viewer believe aren't involved will make sure the suggestion is conveyed at the peak of crisis that they should find the kid who knows what to do and do what he says, which will mostly be "form teams and figure out what to do." Theres been leaps and bounds in the use of media and videogames to disguise schooling and lessons, a techno version of parents hiding vegetables in tastier food, and is a far more efficient way to convey the complex lessons involved. Most role-playing world-of-warcraft build-your-character videogames are nothing but lessons in resource management with flashy frontends and stories that make you want to succeed, so you learn how and get good at it. Different games use different names... ammo, mana, health, experience, warcraft gold, whatever, its just all quantities and relationships.

Forcing a kid to sit through a grinding monotonous lesson about how important it is to behave in a civilized manner is a good way to make them want to go all lord-of-the-flies. But show em flashy TV they like with loud music frequent visual field changes and lots of dramatized glitz to keep the short attention spans on their toes and they'll be enthusiastic about the idea of being civilized cause thats cool and on TV. Its a very clever attempt to counteract influences like gangster culture, a kind of memetic vaccine. If the kids mind is already occupied by the idea that civilized is cool, they're effectively immunized against the diseased notion that its cool to go to jail, kill people for "dissing" you, and be a gangster.
Bout damn time. Its a sneaky and manipulative way to teach a kid, but hey, if it works...

Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

I am sure there will be some who condemn it because some of the kids will be flaming losers. There are those who don't want anything to do with children learning hard lessons. Other than that, meh another reality show; whatever.

[HeadCone 0]

I don't have any general dislike for reality shows. In fact, there are a few that I really like. This show, however, reeks of "crock of shit". I don't believe for a second that there are no adults what-so-ever involved in or having an influence on what happens in the show.

--Head

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[PLFXpert 0]

I don't have any problem with it. Actually, I would have cared less about it and never watched the premier episode had there not been SO much controversy over it.

Then again, controversy = ratings so one wonders how much of it was contrived by the show's execs.

In any case, I won't be watching subsequent episodes. I found the first mildly amusing. I was even impressed with some of the vocabulary and analytical skills used.

In an interview with some of the parents of the participating kids, it was stated the show sought them--not the other way around. If that's true, I'm happy the parents didn't seek out the show for its shock-value and throw their kids in willy-nilly trying to make little Joey the next big thing in Hollywood. It also leads one to believe, however, the reason these particular children were sought after were b/c they had something necessary to contribute. I.e. I doubt the show would work with just any old group of 40 kids. And it's obvious by the premier just why many were chosen (The little girl who grew up on a farm goes right to milking goats when it's time to prepare their first dinner).

In the same interview, it was also stated there were doctors, child psychologists, and an entire slew of adults on hand nearby at all times--OBVIOUSLY.

That's about all I have to say about that. It's just like anything else.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[idrankwhat 0]

I don't really care much because I dislike reality shows and I'm not planning on watching this one either. But while talking about it this morning with a co-worker I found out something interesting. Supposedly it's being filmed in Mexico to get around the US's child labor laws and that included in the agreement that the parents signed it stated that they wouldn't sue, even if their kid was subjected to sexual abuse. It got me thinking that apparently child labor is acceptable if it's done for entertainment purposes.

[pirana 0]

"The most talked about reality show of the season."

Roughly akin to being the least smelliest shit in the stool.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[pirana 0]

Quote

I don't have any problem with it. Actually, I would have cared less about it and never watched the premier episode had there not been SO much controversy over it.

Then again, controversy = ratings so one wonders how much of it was contrived by the show's execs.

In any case, I won't be watching subsequent episodes. I found the first mildly amusing. I was even impressed with some of the vocabulary and analytical skills used.

In an interview with some of the parents of the participating kids, it was stated the show sought them--not the other way around. If that's true, I'm happy the parents didn't seek out the show for its shock-value and throw their kids in willy-nilly trying to make little Joey the next big thing in Hollywood. It also leads one to believe, however, the reason these particular children were sought after were b/c they had something necessary to contribute. I.e. I doubt the show would work with just any old group of 40 kids. And it's obvious by the premier just why many were chosen (The little girl who grew up on a farm goes right to milking goats when it's time to prepare their first dinner).

In the same interview, it was also stated there were doctors, child psychologists, and an entire slew of adults on hand nearby at all times--OBVIOUSLY.

That's about all I have to say about that. It's just like anything else.

A couple writers from one of the reality shows (IIRC it was Trading Places) were so disgusted in how scripted the show was that they quit. An expose followed, with confirmed details of the players being heavily coached on what to do and say. But TV viewers seem to love this crap so much that they ignored the whole scandal. To them the scandal was that someone would dare to tell the truth and ruin their most cherished form of vicarious entertainment.

TV has taken over religion as the opiate of the huddled masses.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley