Rats in the Belfry

9.2.11

Landing on the Jersey Shore

so i crossed another exciting cultural frontier
this week. i watched my first-ever episode
of Jersey Shore.

yes, i know it's season 3. whatever. it just wasn't
a priority. it still isn't. the night i tuned in was a curious convergence of insomnia, depression
and idle curiousity.

i knew it was out there. i knew there is/was a buzz and that it's a"reality" show.

whatever that means.

what i didn't know was just how incredibly, aggressively stupid Jersey Shore would turn
out to be.

i mean, it's not that i went in expecting any Mensa moments. i get around. i read...

i know Stupid is the New Black.

and i know it's Politically Correct,
in the post-millennial sense
of that old familiar phrase.

so sure, i figured Jersey Shore would be kinda stupid, but holy doodle!

Jersey Shore takes stupid to a whole new level. Jersey Shore boldly goes where no one's ever
been stupid enough to go before...

whatever that means.

10 minutes into episode 3.6, it was clear clear as clear can be - Jersey Shore is not simply a superfine fit for the whole "celebrating our inner ignorance" thing that's so darned popular these days...

...Jersey Shore is all that's left
of the American dream.

it's a front row seat
at the end of empire.

it's a freak show, with merch.

when the cast are not responding directly to the lizard brain, they think in tweet-size bites. it's an essential element of their popularity.

they give selected demographic slices of the twitterverse something to type to each other...

...thus eliminating the stress of coming up with something stupid on your own, while freeing up more time to twit...

i guess.

but wait- there's more!

as luck would have it, these bite-sized twit bits are not only fun and easy to remember, they also work surprisingly well in a wide variety of contemporary merch items.