1. Go ahead and finish up our Truman Webquest from yesterday ... then take a look below.
2. There's no question the impact of reality TV on our culture has been huge; before we move on, let's take a last look at reality TV in this Time Magazine article.
The writer's stance is pretty clear: Please read this article and summarize it in a short essay; take this opportunity to summarize your own thoughts on reality television and its impact on our culture.
3. As budding journalists and keen observers of culture, let's take a look at a phenomenon closely related to the whole reality TV explosion: Being famous for being famous!
This is a serious cultural phenomenon worthy of examination: A quick Google search for the term: famous for being famous produces 53 million search results. That's significant.
As a comparison, searching for ice cream produces 59 million results; A search for santa claus returns 15 million results.
Question: What do the popularity of these people say about our culture? What do you feel about celebrity being achieved - without any actual or substantial achievement involved?
Which celebrities do you personally feel are the most overrated, or have achieved fame without any actual accomplishment?
4. Take a moment and get to know Rod Blagojevich.
Years ago this man would have been banished from public life; now, following a serious scandal, Rod found a home on Trump's reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice."
Question: Again, put on your cultural observer cap. Does this bother you - the fact this disgraced politician found a home in our living rooms instead of disappearing into the dustbin of history?
Why or why not? It's okay to be opinionated, as we are about to move into examining newspaper editorials and opinions.
Last question: What's the difference between editorials and opinion columns, anyway?
