First we had “Balloon Boy” and his nutty family vying for a reality television show and now it’s the Salahi’s of Washington, D.C.

My first thought was to blame the Secret Service for allowing those people to get so close to the President, after all, aren’t they supposed to clear everyone he comes in close contact with (especially within the confines of the White House)? After thinking about it I realized that the Secret Service must have had reason to believe that the Salahi’s had a legitimate invitation to the dinner.

There have been several theories put forth about why they got into the dinner and the most idiotic one of all is the Salahi’s statement that they received an “electronic” invitation. Some I doubt the validity of that. Considering that they are supposedly trying to obtain a spot on “The Real Housewives of Washington, DC”, their motives seem fairly obvious.

The part of all of this that upsets me the most is the fact that people are so desperate for their fifteen minutes of fame that they will willingly risk their freedom to become famous. The Salahi’s are facing several criminal charges as a result of their party crashing stunt and I sincerely hope that they get what they deserve….

Is life so meaningless to some that they feel compelled to risk everything to appear on a television show? Is it really worth it to go to jail to become famous (or infamous)? What is lacking in society that makes people go to these lengths to get attention?

Reality television is for the most part simple minded and not very “real”. Much of it is overly produced and set up to bring drama to the viewer even if the actuality is far from the reality. Young people are drawn to shows like “The Hills” which has openly admitted that they create situations that are fake. Shows like “Survivor” were once exciting and the end result was unknown to the viewer. Now, I can pretty much predict who will end up in the finals. “The Real Housewives” series are also edited in such a way that the situations that occur are obviously set up for dramatic effect and have little to do with anything resembling reality.

So, why do we watch these shows? I have to admit that I watch some of them but I’m not sure why. With the reality programs there is always that element of guessing what’s real and what isn’t. Also, some of the participants are willing to do just about anything to get the attention that they obviously need and that makes for interesting if not accurate television viewing.

The “Balloon Boy’s” family were warned, charged and probably back home trying to think up some other ridiculous method of promoting themselves. The Salahi’s may experience an entirely different end result because they have violated Federal law and put a sitting President in harm’s way. Whether they intended to harm the President or not, they should NOT have been allowed the opportunity to do so.

What is necessary in order to prevent people from doing such dangerous and foolish stunts in order to gain recognition? Somehow, I doubt that this phenomenon will end anytime soon and we will continue to see sad, desperate people continuing to risk all for their fifteen minutes of fame…no matter the cost.

I guess that their reality is so skewed that they no longer know the difference between what is real and what is not.