Passive Reality

Brian Lowry’s article “The Mean Truth of Reality Shows: Nastiness Rates” (July 22) is refreshingly insightful. I suggest, however, that we push its implications a little further. If the pain of others becomes a form of entertainment for a large portion of the populace (and one could argue convincingly that it already has), if “it becomes great fun to watch unpleasant things happen to ordinary people,” what happens to the collective humanity of the members of such a society? What does the future hold for them, for it? One thinks of the more egregious examples from history.

One of the first casualties of “reality shows,” of the culture of nastiness generally, of the mean-spirited as norm, is an aspect of the human imagination itself. Such shows demand a kind of imaginative and moral passivity of the viewer. My comfort, my being entertained by such shows depends upon my suppression of my natural feelings of sympathy. Otherwise I would simply be repulsed and would switch channels. Over time, such callousness becomes a habit, like watching television. Eventually my potential for sympathy, for empathy, begins to atrophy, to die.

At the very least, our imagination’s capacity for sympathy helps keep our baser impulses in check. Hence something like the Golden Rule plays a necessary and powerful role in most healthy societies. Without it, the social contract disintegrates.

Now that’s entertainment.

BRUCE BOSTON

San Diego

I read with interest (and some pity) the article by William Keck describing the “paranormal encounter” nature of the Lifetime series “Beyond Chance” (“Melissa Etheridge, Making the Most of ‘Beyond Chance,’ ” July 22). In the same sentence with “paranormal,” Keck calls the series an “hourlong reality series.”

It’s unfortunate that he appears not to grasp the difference. Spouting messages that are supposed to be from dead relatives of unfortunate people in mourning is taking extreme advantage of human nature, and to associate this group-delusional, soi-disant spirit channeling with “reality” is yet another disservice.

DAVE SUESS

Hermosa Beach