Fucking MTV

[treatment]

I don't know if anybody else has caught this, but I know it's infuriated me. I enjoy a good channel-surf every now and then, and I caught, on two different occasions, shows on MTV featuring traveling kids doing their thing. One was on a trainhopping couple, both twenty-something, and the other was on a homeless traveling girl, around the same age, who was hitching back home to Oregon. I hate the way that MTV, and 'pop culture' in general seems to be moving more and more toward glamourizing the hobo way of life, making it seem like a trendy way to live. I'm not on the road at the moment, for my own reasons (just got outta a 15 month stint in rehab, living in a halfway house), but still, I have enough wherewithal and respect for people that live on the street (in any form or fashion) to know that this is really not ok, on all sorts of levels.

Thoughts?

 

[Pheonix]

there ain't much you can do about it. hollywood loves to glamourize stuff that society hates, and the people eat it up cause they secretly wish they were a drug-dealing, coke-sniffing fucking kingpin after they watch Scarface. hollywood sells the fantasy of something that the couch potatoes don't have the balls to go do, but sometimes want to.

as for squatting I wish more people knew about squatting, especially in this economy if more people knew about squatting then more people would be squatting their homes after the banks foreclose on them. as far as hitching if people see that people on TV are doing it they might be more willing to pick up a hitch hiker, same goes for spanging.

 

[panik]

haha man being home has made me a total vegetable....just sitting around watching tv and being on the internet and stuff.
but yeah! I saw the one with the girl in san fransisco last night. jeez that was pretty ridiculous and sad.

She looked like an old baglady with her shopping cart and stuff! and the dude just kept insinuating that she was living that way because of problems at home... which she had I guess. They didn't glamorize it at all! I was watching it hoping they would show her like, having a good time or something. It was mostly just depressing and the dude seemed condescending to her in my opinion.

 

[Axegrinder]

I am goign to say i have to agree with pheonix

 

[Stope]

Didn't watch the whole thing, but I remember a one-legged dude spitting on the camera. That guy was awesome.

But back on topic, I guess we can always hope that someone will see you spanging and think "Hey, he's just like that girl on MTV, I should give him money!"

 

[recalibrating]

I don't think that pop culture or Mtv are "glamorizing the hobo way of life," I think it is more of a, "Hey a few of these demographics that watch our bullshit programming fantasize about/will be interested in watching kids gallivant through society by unconventional means as a result of their built up teen angst."

Also keep in mind the reason networks make shows is so they can generate viewers, which in turn reflectively increase the value of the add time that is then sold off in 30 second increments to the highest bidders in order for them to sell us one more goddamn thing that we don't need. :zombie:

 

[notconnerR]

I love seeing this raised interest in train riding and being a traveling kid. I think 99% of my generation is comprised of worthless, weak, feckless morons that need something completely shocking to happen to them, and I think train hopping and squatting and the like would make a lot of kids really understand how good they have it.

As for MTV or anyone else making money off of traveling kids, I wholeheartedly condone it. If you're exploiting society, shouldn't society be able to exploit you?

 

[deadendjustice]

idk i thought it was interesting. i mean they only showed one persons point of view on "hobo" life and that was in a thirty minute segment. but the dude that spit on the camera is fucking awesome. i do agree though that they made these peoples life seem sad and hopeless. i mean im choosing to travel. i come from a good family but i want to actually experience life thats free and no one telling me what to do

 

[notconnerR]

Most people on the streets are sad and hopeless.

 

[MiztressWinter]

Most people on the streets are sad and hopeless.

Alot of them are, but there's also ALOT that aren't and that CHOOSE to live that life style. nah' mean?

 

[notconnerR]

In all seriousness, I think that 99 percent of people on the street are sad and hopeless. It's not a life and the people that choose to be on the streets are pretty worthless (I've yet to meet one that makes me think otherwise).

Even traveling kids I think are mostly sad and hopeless.

 

[Danielsama34]

At least they didn't depict the whole homeless culture as being heroin addicts or alcoholics like alot of these documentaries do...

 

[treatment]

As far as glamourizing goes..

In my opinion it definitely made it appealing. Not in a "oh it's so easy and fun" way. They definitely showed the hardship and struggles..spanging, being stuck in a town and harassed by the cops, etc, But at the same time there was a definite appeal to the footage.
Now that I think about it..maybe it just made me want to hit the road that much sooner because I already know I wanted to, and it just reminded me haha. I can't really comment on how the average kid would respond to it.

 

[MiztressWinter]

In all seriousness, I think that 99 percent of people on the street are sad and hopeless. It's not a life and the people that choose to be on the streets are pretty worthless (I've yet to meet one that makes me think otherwise).

Even traveling kids I think are mostly sad and hopeless.

Alot of them are, true nuff. But some people are just honestly happier on the road. some people can't sit still. some people just have to be out on the road or they don't feel content. I think perhaps because it was their way of life for so long that it's all they know? Or maybe just because they truly love it...even through the bad times of being hungry, wet, and cold, perhaps the good times of freedom, wind in your hair, and true generosity makes it worth while. idk...

 

[wildboy860]

Life is what you make it. You dont need money to be happy, its just a big fuckin illusion. and thats why most people on the street arent happy, cuase they dont know how to live happily without money. real happiness comes from the people you spend your time around and the time you spend doing the things you love. if you dont have those than your life is gonna be absolute shit whether your rich or not!