Last night I found myself at the edge of my seat, waiting to see who would be "dismissed" on one of MTV's latest reality TV shows. Would it be sexy, ditsy Lisa, or timid Sara who would win over Matt's heart on their three hour long date? In the past two years, a whole new wave of entertainment has crept its way into the minds and homes of America's 50 million viewers. Perhaps oxymoronically dubbed "reality TV," this new wave of shows which peers into the lives of the cast, ever-probing for exciting and scandalous feelings and behaviors, is a product of a certain hidden voyeuristic culture that is now manifesting itself on primetime television. We have a growingly infantile society. As adults today are mesmerized by any form of graphic entertainment, from video games to hand-held computers, they are growing indistinguishable from their children to the entertainment companies who are working ever-harder to deliver this entertainment faster and more glamorous with each delivery. Today, faster and more technologically advanced transmission of stupidity can be seen as progress.

The new MTV series "The Osbournes," which tracks the life of perhaps the most obscenely shocking figure in the music of our generation (along with his wacky family), is just the latest of shows on our voyeuristic menu hoping to please our pallet. Perhaps 2001's "Fear Factor" was meant not just to reveal to 12 million debut viewers the innermost fears of six contestants, but also to try to shock an increasingly unshockable society. And, as the voyeurism continues to manifest itself, so does the level of obscurity that these shows include. The recent "Tough Enough," another creation by MTV genius, tracks the weaning down process experienced by WWF contestants. When will this phenomenon end? Will we need to have a show that tracks the level of stress and excitement experienced by toll-takers that a woman driving up in a Beamer invokes?

Perhaps the good economic times we live in have afforded us the opportunity to hail "choice" as the ideal that rises above all others. Competition is said to root out the weak and push forward the strong. To separate away the dross and leave the gold. But, these voyeuristic shows, many of which such as "DisMissed," "Fear Factor" and "Survivor," pit contestants against each other, also underscore a clear truth: this competition has a different, corruptive effect with mass culture. It brings out a fierce cultural desensitization leading to a ratcheting up of violence and degradation. How many people do we need to see cry on "Fear Factor" or get divorced after a few weeks on "Temptation Island" before our voyeuristic thrills are satiated? How many self-confidences do we need to see shattered by "Tough Enough" or bodies mutilated on an episode of "True Life" featuring breast implant surgery before we are confident enough with ourselves to leave our houses the next morning?

As television networks sink to the industry's challenge of thinking lower, the viewers award these networks with ratings through the roof. Pitted against shows like the stalwart "Law and Order," these reality TV shows have blatantly triumphed. No matter how you look at it, a culture that enjoys a show like the appropriately named "Jackass," both for its content and for the viewers it draws, needs to do some reconsidering. Perhaps the religious doctrines are correct; some pleasures are immoral purely because they are desensitizing, even if done behind the closed doors of America's homes. Inevitably, this coarsening of entertainment does rear its ugly head in public, and will ultimately lead to the destruction of our society. What is the next level of a violent voyeuristic primetime hit show?

Perhaps six teenagers playing Russian roulette in their living room would be entertaining to our increasingly senseless and coarse society. And, then our President questions how someone from a culture that he has had no first hand experience with can lack the sensitivity to commit certain outrageous acts of violence? Unfortunately, senseless violence sounds a bit more familiar to me than that. Just turn on the television and get your daily dose, as millions of other Americans do each day.