Reality bites

So The Real World is coming to D.C. and people are annoyed and...wait, why are people annoyed, again?

I mean, am I a fan of The Real World? Absolutely not. It's a dumb show that's "real" only in the sense that it's not an animated cartoon. I don't know what world you live in, but at no point have I ever:

1) Been allowed to live rent free in a house for several weeks that was seemingly designed by a 15 year-old's id with an unlimited budget.

2) Been forced to room with six strangers, specifically chosen, not based on their worth as human beings, but on countless interviews and psychological profiles, in order to create the most drama. And by "drama," I mean "screaming at each other over really petty stuff" or "fucking in the hot tub."

3) Been made to work in a place against my will for the sake of even more manufactured drama. Remember how the first few seasons were about young adults trying to follow their artistic dreams in a big city, like being a stand-up comic or a poet or a country singer or whatever? But then MTV decided they had to get boring jobs and follow their dreams on their own damn time like everyone else? That kind of killed it for me. (Although, I guess in a way that did make it marginally more"real.") Actually, do Real World kids even have dreams, anymore? Other than just being on The Real World, I mean?

The bottom line is, this is just another group of tourists that'll be here this summer. Nothing more, nothing less. Think about all the tourists you've encountered in your time living and/or working in D.C. Think about the stupid comments you've overheard them make. Think about how many times you've had to ask them to let you pass them on the escalator. Think about the smells.

Is there any reason to think the Real World people can possibly be any worse?

Frankly, we should be so much more up in arms over The Blonde Charity Mafia and The Real Housewives of D.C. No one's going to judge us harshly over anything that appears on The Real World D.C., because A) Everyone knows what kind of people appear on The Real World, and B) Everyone understands the concept of stupid tourists invading their city, even if they, themselves, occasionally go on to act like stupid tourists when they invade some other city.

The people featured on those other two shows, though...they live here. They may be a bunch of spoiled princesses, but unfortunately, they're our spoiled princesses. And we're going to have to answer for them.

Be afraid.