It’s the end of the world as we know it

Today I traveled to London--an uneventful trip, despite my headline.

I watch Gogglebox occasionally--where British people share their witty thoughts and reactions while watching the past week's telly. There are some very funny commentators. I've watched it so long they feel like my friends. Sad, I know.

I don't watch much else on TV – the occasaional sitcom or political satire show. So I don't follow the Big Shows. Minor celebrities compete in dance routines. Minor celebrities compete in dance routines on ice. Minor celebrities are on an island where they eat camel scrota, live worms, animal intestines. Or have worms dropped on them, or any other creative physical insult. Because appartently this is entertainment in 2019. Gogglebox often shows clips from these shows, so I get to see what I'm missing by not watching TV. The newest one is where recently coupled couples go on holiday and their parents watch them, via implanted cameras and mics. Not sure what the contract says – do the young people know their parents and siblings are watching while they get it on in the hot tub?

All of these shows make me despair at the state of humanity. I believe in evolution, so I don't understand how it is we are regressing so quickly, with Trump, Brexit, and shows like Naked Attraction, a "dating game show" where people pick their mates based on seeing only their genitalia. And we learn of female grooming techniques I'd really rather not know about. Female self loathing has reached new highs apparently.

David is reading a book that explains how the dark side of humanity has shaped historic events. So he says it is plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose again. I don't think all of humanity is that degraded. I think it's a subset--I just don't understand how national broadcasters have license to encourage the worst in people. I guess TV is mimicking the dark corners of the web, where the creepy people lurk.

March 18