If ever there was a single perfect example of the kind of whorehouse capitalism that has proliferated on television since the onset of the Reaganite counter-revolution against regulation and consumer protection, it is the Games Fever TV phenomenon. Stupid People are lured into tolling up charges on their cell phones by text messaging answers to apparently simple word games in exchange for cash prizes. These shows are duplicitous on every level, but what is most appalling about their existence is that under the pretense of being entertainment, they are painfully repetitive, whining entreaties to the viewers to call in. As is the case with many other such "shows," they actually have the nerve to interrupt with commercial breaks--in effect setting up nesting ways to separate the uneducated from their money. I thought that television had gotten about as low as it could get, but given permission by those who are supposed to be the gatekeepers for decency and against exploitative use of a public trust, the spiral continues to descend. Only the truly scatological and the pornographic await our viewing pleasure.
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