Our Voice: Reality television harms youth
On March 31, “Jersey Shore” cast member Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was paid $32,000 to speak to students at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The advice she gave was to “study hard, but party harder.”
She was paid from the mandatory fees that all undergraduates had to pay.
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison has been asked to speak at Rutgers University this year as well. She is to give the commencement speech, for $2,000 less than what Polizzi was paid.
According to an opinion piece in The Daily Targum, Rutgers’ student newspaper, “If you must direct your anger (about Snooki being paid more than Morrison) somewhere, direct it at the cultural climate. We live in a world where more people are willing to watch Snooki prattle on about nonsense than are willing to listen to Morrison deliver a speech.”
Here at The Colonnade, we do direct our outrage about the difference in pay at the environment created by all of the reality shows aired.
Shows such as “Jersey Shore” and “The Real World” are making some of today’s youth think that excessive drinking and partying are behaviors that are not detrimental.
A recent study done by The Partnership at Drugfree.org, found that 45 percent of teens in grades nine through 12 do not think that drinking up to five alcoholic drinks per day is harmful.
This trend cannot be blamed on reality television shows, but many of them glorify drinking and partying without showing the consequences alcohol can have when abused.
The Colonnade thinks that reality shows are condoning activities that can be damaging to today’s youth and parents should censor the viewing of them by their children.
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