10. Korn (Featuring Skrillex) – “Narcissistic Cannibal”

This is a decision so bad it had to time travel from 1998 to get here. Sure, Korn’s popularity may be lagging, but is that really a good reason to intentionally imitate Nine Inch Nails imitators like Filter or Stabbing Westward? Nu metal and electronica do not mix, especially toothless, uninspired, most-likely-merely-contractually-obligated nu metal and electronica. This one makes the #10 slot on the list because it’s mostly just bad, but since I’m not above tawdry dubstep, I usually at least make it to Skrillex’s breakdown after a few choruses.

9. Kreayshawn – “Gucci Gucci”

Wait, what? White hipster chicks trying to act ghetto? No, Internet. Stop this. You know better. I know better. I should know better, but I can’t… stop… watching…

8. Insane Clown Posse – “Leck Mich Im Arsch”

The Insane Clown Posse. Covering Mozart. Produced by Jack White. Need I say more? Hear the full version here. The only takeaway I have from this is what lengths mad genius Jack White will go to conjure even the smallest smidgen of artistic merit from the makers of “Miracles” and “Big Money Rustlas.” It appears “Leck Mich Im Arsch” was a fun way to resurrect this lesser-known scatological Mozart piece and grab attention for the release, whereas the single’s B-side, “Mountain Girl,” actually works by reining in ICP’s redneck rhapsodizing and shaping it into a whimsical modern-day bluegrass story song.

7. Britney Spears – “I Wanna Go”

At thirty years old, Britney Spears could totally drop the teenage sexpot image and still have a vibrant career, right? Right? This is downright embarrassing. She still shapes her mouth to sing her vowels as baby sounds, the double entendre is as clumsy as Alec Baldwin on his iPhone–I would say I’m baffled why she would debase herself this way, but I’m sure it can be explained by the multitudinous digits printed on Ms. Spears’ paycheck. So why is this song so listenable? I’ll admit it; I like a lot of the production trends in Top 40 music right now–club music that’s gaudy, repetitive, loud, over-compressed, and unapologetic–the aural equivalent of B cinema. She may not be acting her age, but Britney’s being entirely honest about what she has to offer. The fact that its chorus shares the tiniest helix of musical DNA with Sufjan Stevens’ “Vesuvius” might have something to do with it, too, but maybe that’s just me desperately hanging onto a scrap of dignity.

6. Rebecca Black – “My Moment”

“Friday” was the banal train wreck that rocketed Ms. Black from obscurity to national stardom, but it can be easily excused. It was a fluke, a vanity project probably pushed on her by disgusting stage parents, its dopey lyrics penned by the creepy opportunists running Ark Music Factory. “Friday” was an innocent song which pushed an innocent girl into a corrupt world; Black’s followup single “My Moment” is a tragic portrait of a young woman pursuing a fantastical dream while she comes of age, assailed simultaneously by the vitriol of the Internet and copious iTunes residuals. It’s beyond tragic, even… it’s downright menacing. She’s not just trying to get to school and have a good time anymore. She wants this fame. She wants to wear fancy dresses and walk the red carpet. She wants to sing to adoring crowds. And she wants to shove it right back in your face, you heckling riffraff. “I’m about to blow up,” she warns her “Friday” detractors–an ominous lyric from a California girl who, only three years old pre-9/11, would have been a vulnerable, impressionable young tyke for Al Qaeda to shape and mentor. Let’s have the DOJ keep an eye on this one.

5. Attack Attack! – “Smokahontas”

This was technically released in 2010 on Attack Attack!’s self-titled album, but the video was released in early 2011, so I’m stretching the rules a bit here. Attack Attack! is infamous for popularizing the term “crabcore,” wherein a guitarist lowers his bottom to the same altitude as his knees and crabwalks. What caught my attention, though, was the bizarre fusion of hardcore screamo music (as hardcore as you’ll get from suburban middle-class white kids in Ohio, I imagine) and angsty, autotuned teen-pop techno. These people heard this before they released it, right? At least Korn just tacked on Skrillex’s synth drums and gurgle-bass to their existing sound instead of lurching back and forth between metal riffs and Yo Gabba Gabba hooks. Either they knowingly put out some of the most embarrassing rock music ever produced, or they truly lack the self-awareness to see how awful this is. Either way, my ears win, despite the pain.

4. CJ Fam – “Ordinary Pop Star”

While some were content to let Rebecca Black’s “Friday” be their final exposure to Ark Music Factory, some of us dug deeper. While there were many worthy entries in this exploitative preteen pop genre, some from Ark and others not, nothing quite arouses the level of revulsion and shame as CJ Fam’s “Ordinary Pop Star.” Identified as 11 years old in another Ark Music Factory video, CJ delivers a tongue-in-cheek ode to the destructive downward spiral initiated by one’s entrance into the public eye that’s as trashy as it is catchy. What’s disturbing here is that Ms. Fam is proof that the entertainment industry, pushing for a younger audience (the only mass clientele they can still get), will exploit younger and younger children to achieve this, and nothing but a major child labor/molestation scandal will delay them. From the looks of how the Ark founders are eying that monitor with CJ Fam footage, it looks like it’ll happen sooner rather than later.

3. LMFAO – Everything

It’s insufficient to post a single song from “party rockers” LMFAO. It’s more important to see them being “real” in an interview. Between their half-baked sentiments about creating true art, frat-boy ghetto affectations, and random scuffles with presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, these men are either pulling off the greatest piece of performance art in history, or… no. I have to stop myself. It’s just stupid. Extremely, extremely stupid.

2. Selena Gomez & The Scene – “Love You Like a Love Song”

Rest in peace, similes. But then again, the gargly dubstep bass… I’m torn.

1. Big Freedia – “Y’all Get Back Now”

Wait, how did this one even get on the list? This is just plain one of the best songs of 2011. Yeah, that’s right, haters, there is nothing to dislike about “Y’all Get Back Now.” Seriously. This is ’90s club-inspired, booty-shaking rap that is life affirming and heartwarming. This is about as basic as hip-hop can get–consisting of Freedia’s vocals, drums, bass, the occasional MIDI orchestral stab and air raid siren–and that’s all we need. The more sophisticated barely middlebrow among you may scoff, but hey, sometimes it’s perfectly fine to eat a Big Mac instead of filet mignon. If it’s got a danceable beat, goofy lyrics, and an infectious atmosphere of fun, you may be preventing yourself from loving it only for fear of feeling foolish.

Strange songstress Lady Gaga prompted many jaws to drop during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night when she channeled her foul-mouthed, whisky-drinking, chain-smoking male alter-ago, Jo Calderone.

“She left me! She said it always starts out good and then the guys — meaning me, I’m one of the guys — we get crazy,” the Calderone character said in the opening monologue. “I did. I got crazy. But she’s f—ing crazy too, right?” 

During Gaga’s multiple appearances on stage throughout the night, she continued to find the need to reinforce that “Gaga wasn’t here tonight” and that “Calderone” “was accepting the award on her behalf.”  

However, we’re told Gaga’s somewhat crass drag routine wasn’t just restricted for the cameras. An insider told FOX411’s Pop Tarts that the performer also spent the day using men’s room.

We’re sure that was … interesting … for male attendees.

But the strange behavior didn’t end there.

Perhaps the most awkward moment of all came when “Calderone” presented Britney Spears with the Video Vanguard VMA (right after declaring that growing up, Gaga used to “touch herself” while looking at the posters of the pop icon on her wall) and propositioned her for a kiss.

Spears pulled away from the close encounter, and later seemed unsure of how to handle the situation while keeping full composure.

Full piece here.

Early feminists fought against the centuries-old image of a “woman on a pedestal.” Gloria Steinem (she of the “a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle” who in later years ended up getting married anyway) once said, “A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.” I suppose a bra is also a small, confined space, which might explain the bra burnings of the 1960s. But the early feminists had a point – to a point. If a woman wants to be put on a pedestal and admired and adored, fine. But if she doesn’t, she should have the right to do with her life as she chooses. She should be free to pursue any vocation for which she is qualified, either as a single or married woman, children or no children.

But one of the problems with the new feminism was the annoying little fact that children could get in the way of this brave new world. Having to either stay at home with the little tykes or find daycare for them – not to mention all of the discomfort and disfiguration that comes with pregnancy itself – sure put a damper on Gloria Steinem’s idea of a “liberated woman” being “one who has sex before marriage and a job after.” Unbridled sex does, after all, have consequences. And so, according to historian Elaine Tyler May, birth control was “an important tool to gain control over their lives.”

May touts the contributions of Margaret Sanger, whose group eventually became known as Planned Parenthood, conveniently ignoring – as many do – Sanger’s devotion to eugenics. Sanger spoke of sterilizing those “unfit” to contribute to the gene pool, a group which included not only blacks and other ethnic minorities but, according to  Sanger associate Dr. Harry Laughlin, the “shiftless, ignorant, and worthless class of antisocial whites of the South.” What a classy group of people.

Margaret Sanger: eugenicist and racist.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against safe, legitimate birth control methods. But when tooting the horn of the likes of Margaret Sanger, we need to be honest about what really drove her pursuit of birth control for women, just as we should be honest about what drives the abortion mills of Planned Parenthood – profit. And quelle surprise – Planned Parenthood as we know it really came into its own in the 1960s.

In a nutshell: True feminists of the time felt that you could only be a feminist if you rebelled against the natural workings of your body and eschewed marriage and motherhood  for a “higher cause.” There are still many of the old guard around today. But the times, they are a changin’.

Fast forward to 2010. Many would say the fight for equal rights has pretty much been won. Girls can dream of going to college and becoming airline pilots, electrical and biological engineers, teachers, doctors – the list is almost endless. In fact, more women graduate with college degrees than men – perhaps due in part to more focus being put on girls than boys in school to “make up for” previous inequality and also what is being called the feminization of society (what Rush Limbaugh calls “chickification”).

And for years, the entertainment industry has done its part for the last 20 or 30 years by portraying men as bumbling but lovable fools who wouldn’t be where they are if it weren’t for the very attractive, smart-as-a-whip women they somehow managed to marry. Television’s Home Improvement and King of Queens are two of the more recent examples. And, of course, commercials like this one. So even if the woman did commit the sin of marrying, she always had the redeeming quality of having the upper hand in just about any situation.

Dopey husband, brilliant wife.

Earlier, I said that unbridled sex without birth control or easy access to abortion has the consequence of pregnancy and childbirth. Today, unbridled sex with birth control and easy access to abortion combined with an increasingly “anything goes” attitude in society and pop culture gets girls who have as their role models the like of Paris Hilton, the Kardashian sisters, Snooki from MTV’s Jersey Shore and various other “celebrities.” Their claim to fame is not similar to being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean or receiving the Nobel Prize for pioneering work in radiation, but for on-camera antics like tanning, catfights, and puking after binge drinking, and having their “sex tapes” released to the press for quick and easy profit. Too many are the next target of the creator of the Girls Gone Wild video series, which shows images of drunken girls taking off their tops and making out with one another.

We also have the likes of Lady Gaga, who makes Madonna look like a choir girl – almost. And those who begin their careers as wholesome young things (Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears, Christina Aguilera, Lindsey Lohan, Miley Cyrus) often decide that “growing up” must mean “giving out” – figuratively speaking in some cases, not so figuratively in others.

As the mother of two girls, one just starting college this year and the other starting high school, I find these so-called role models severely lacking.

Writing for Macleans, Anne Kingston also notes this disturbing trend. As those she interviews see it, the fight for women’s equality is not over but has taken a giant step backward because of something called “enlightened sexism”: where women are not only “empowered” by overtly flaunting their sexuality, but are also obsessed with getting married.

Certainly this new trend in the entertainment media, which exploits this so-called sexual empowerment for fun and profit, is partially to blame. But what about the parents? Where are they?

Sure there are the mothers quoted in Anne Kingston’s article who are upset about this trashy turn of events. Unfortunately, there are plenty of others who are pushing the trend. I was in TJ Maxx some time ago and heard two women talking, excited because the store was finally carrying the tacky Juicy Couture clothing line. Yet I had to wonder – were they excited because they could buy it for their children or were they excited for themselves? Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw an older, heavyset woman at the mall who was with a boy who looked like he might be her grandson. She was wearing a tight t-shirt with the word Juicy across the front and it was painfully obvious that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Nothing like mutton dressed like lamb a la Absolutely Fabulous.

Blech.

What’s funny on TV is scary in real life.

Then there’s the recent story about skinny jeans for toddlers. Why anyone would put their two- or three-year-old in an item of clothing usually connected with sexuality is beyond me. But then we have shows like TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, where some think “beauty pageant stage parents make Jon and Kate Gosselin look like Ward and June Cleaver.” There are notorious stage parents like Dina Lohan, who has done her best to launch her own career on the back of her daughter, nearly sucking her dry.

Double blech.

My take? The left tried its hand at social engineering in the name of equality – but rather than focusing on equal rights in education and the workplace,  ended up giving women the same “rights” as men in the arena of sex with no consequences. Religion and morality were for squares, no matter what Huey Lewis might have said. Yet it has backfired. Girls still like to look pretty and still like to attract boys. However, now they don’t have to worry about public stigma for public misbehavior. A girl who would once be labeled a skank for certain behavior is now celebrated. Be famous for being a no-talent party girl with an expanding rap sheet! No need to “settle with a man just to have that child.” Go back to the creep who used your face for a punching bag. Turn yourself into a literal caricature through plastic surgery. You deserve it.

You’ve come a long way, baby. Here’s hoping you can find your way home again.

Hollywood did have a Golden Age, and the current time is not it.  While most people know Clark Gable for 8 famous words, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” and his role in the film “Gone with the Wind,” what a lot of people don’t know is that he was a genuine American hero.  At the height of his popularity he enlisted in the military to serve his country during World War II.  As an observer-gunner on a bomber, he participated in 5 combat missions and was almost killed when flak and enemy interceptors nearly took down his B-17.  He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism.  He was eventually promoted to the rank of major.  While his valor and physical courage were probably uncommon, the values that he represented were not.  

We could pull example after example from Hollywood’s golden age of celebrities who represented values that were more in line with main stream America then they are today, but let’s fast forward about sixty years and see what passes for Hollywood values today. 

• Johnny Depp, a pot smoker, told GQ magazine that when his kids get old enough to be curious about drugs, they would be allowed to experiment with marijuana as long as he is allowed to supply the drugs.
• Paris Hilton filmed herself having sexual intercourse with another woman’s husband.  This tape became an Internet sensation when it found its way into the public arena.
• Britney Spears has turned being photographed without underpants into an art form.
• A significant percentage of the Hip Hop genre is openly and unabashedly dedicated to glorifying gang culture and violence against women.
• Actress Rachel Weisz “begged” the director of the film “Agora” to allow her to film a masturbation scene.
• Lady GaGa’s video “Telephone” features her as an inmate at a woman’s prison.  Some scenes have her clad only in police warning tape and participating in everything except a full cavity search (that is probably included in the director’s cut of the video).
• Madonna has simulated the crucifixion of Jesus during her shows.
•  Alec Baldwin was recorded screaming at her teenage daughter in a voicemail and calling her a “rude pig”.
• Howard Stern and Jenny McCarthy decided that it would be entertaining if they strapped Jenny into a “Tickling Machine” and tickled her until she wet herself.  After she had lost bladder control they posted the photos online.
• Singer Adam Lambert through a first rate media  hissy fit after the AMA awards would not let him give another man an open mouthed kiss during his performance.
• Lindsay Lohan (Need we say more)? 

I doubt most women from Des Moines, Indianapolis, or Cleveland are looking at the comments of Rachel Weisz and saying “Finally!!! We get to masturbate on film!!!”  It is more likely they either be mildly appalled or simply dismiss her completely.  Also, I doubt that most dads would be on board with Alec Baldwin’s parenting methods.  I don’t believe that even Rick Hilton, father of Paris Hilton, would bludgeon his daughter with the word “pig,” even though she has given him ample cause.  

To be fair, some of this is not the fault of the celebrities.  If Lucille Ball had a trapeze in her bedroom, the only person who knew about it was Desi Arnaz.  There was no TMZ or paparazzi culture to hunt Hollywood stars down and ask why they are checking into a sleazy motel with a tube of Astroglide and an anxious looking ferret.  There was plenty of going on behind the curtain that was contrary to their well managed public images.  This does not excuse the behaviors many modern celebrities do openly embrace though.  Besides this obvious disconnect between what Main Street considers acceptable behavior and what Hollywood believes is an suitable status quo, the politics of the entertainment world also needs to be factored in when discussing why they are unpopular. 

The United States is undeniably a center-right country.  With that said, any time there is a major political issue in this country, Hollywood personalities sprint to whichever side that is contrary to the sensibilities of mainstream population.  A good example of this is the current debate over the new Arizona immigration law. Rasmussen reported that 60% of the American people are in favor of their approach to dealing with illegal immigration.  Despite this avalanche of support for the Arizona law, celebrities are crawling out of the woodwork to condemn it.  Pop star Shakira, actress Eva Longoria, and comedian George Lopez are leading a celebrity contingent bent on condemning Arizona over their right to enforce a reasonable immigration law.  Pick any issue that the American people are overwhelmingly in agreement on (no gay marriage, no government health care, lowering taxes, etc.), and the celebrity class has aligned themselves against them. 

Finally, while the American public seems to have a dim view of Hollywood, the fact that Hollywood doesn’t seem to like America much either could be a contributing factor.  Nothing brought this to light more than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Many celebrities spoke out on this topic, and used their celebrity to deliver some surprising criticism of their own country.     

• “When I see an American flag flying, it’s a joke.” — Robert Altman
• “Let’s get rid of all the economic (expletive) this country represents! Bring it on, I hope the Muslims win!” – Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders
• “It is an embarrassing time to be an American. It really is. It’s humiliating.” — Jessica Lange
• “(Americans) They’re sheep.” — Ed Asner
• “When Communist U.S.S.R. was a superpower, the world was better off.” — Janeane Garofalo
• We (Americans) have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” — Bill Maher

The above list is just a small cross section of hundreds of such comments.  When you combine this with celebrity behavior that most Americans would classify as foolish or deviant and a deep political divide, you have a situation where the mainstream of American culture not only lacks respect for the entertainment industry, but also shares no common ground with Hollywood culture.

To wit: there was a time when people loved Hollywood.  In those bygone days the entertainment industry made people feel proud to be Americans.  Today’s Hollywood is doing its best to make us ashamed of the USA.  That notion is never going to get over with the nations center-right mainstream.

If you frequent the BigHollywood often, you’ve no doubt read about Glee’s recent jabs aimed toward Conservatives (more specifically, last week with Sarah Palin). Despite Sarah Palin having a legion of supporters (many of whom watch “Glee”), the people at Fox thought that it was a safe bet. After all, none of their Hollywood buddies would criticize them for it. That would require, shall we say… testicles? No, when it comes to speaking up against the popular opinion among their elitist peers, Tinseltown decided to lie themselves on the neutering bench a long time ago. It’s because of this that they travel in packs, making drive-bys and are more akin to acting like Cobra-Kais’ cronies than fighting the establishment a la Daniel Larusso. When “Glee” took a swipe at Ann Coulter this week, one could faintly hear the cries of their Hollywood lackeys screeching “Get’him a bodybag!” in the studio back lots and writers’ boardrooms.

In the most recent episode, when Emma Pillsburys’ character was listing the negative role models influencing young women in America today, she felt the need to name Ann Coulter. For the record, Ann Coulter was included after Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. The show then went on to normalize promiscuous teenage sex between young harlots and cads. If Ann wants to be a more positive role model for young women, clearly she should be taking notes.

It seems that the creators of “Glee” don’t just hate Conservatives in general, but reserve an even stronger rancor for particularly strong Conservative women. Their disdain for Palin and Coulter is deeply rooted in their love for subjective morality. Whereas “Glee” tells young women that the entire sexual landscape is nothing more than a gray area determined only by what “feels” right to them, Coulter and Palin draw a clear line in the sand and dare to tell women that sex is a big deal. Remember that to a liberal, telling young women that sex should be reserved for their husband is cruel, archaic, and ultimately a manifestation of hatred for women as a whole, as well as their menstrual cycles.

An even bigger problem for Hollywood is that both of these women sell books. I mean, they sell a LOT of books. The folks in Tinseltown can’t get their heads around that. They surround themselves with so many yes-men and patsies for the higher-ups that they can’t fathom such a huge portion of the American public being in diametric opposition to their worldview. So what do they do? They attack… In packs.

Even worse, if they feel that their backs are against the wall, they’ll call up Sean Penn to curse you with rectal cancer.

That’s right. Watch “Glee”… Or you’ll die screaming of rectal cancer.

American Idol runner up Adam Lambert, one of the performers during the live East Coast broadcast, shocked viewers with his “pelvic-thrust[ing] … four-minute, S&M-themed routine, taking time out from singing to grope a female dancer, kiss a male musician and, most shockingly, shove a male dancer’s face into his crotch, in an act that simulated fellatio.”

Nothing like watching a little simulated fellatio to round out an evening with the family. Pass the popcorn!

Sources from the AMA claimed that those dance moves had not been part of the rehearsal, and the West Coast version of the show was edited to delete the scene. Now there’s the real scandal: trying to protect children who might be watching. If it’s good enough for the likes of the celebs in the AMA audience, it should be good enough for your 10 year old.

ABC received approximately 1,500 calls the next day from people complaining about what Lambert billed as ” a sexy song about seduction and power and I was just doing the lyrics justice.” The hicks who complained are probably the same people who did not see the poetic beauty in a “man eating, cannibalistic lesbian cheerleader.” How positively provincial. However, the plebes won and ABC also took the step of canceling Lambert’s “Good Morning America” performance. I suppose what Perez Hilton calls “c*** shock” would be a bit too much before breakfast.

Of course, Lambert was shocked in his turn that Americans would be anything but thrilled to see him in a lip lock with another guy as well as a man’s face in his crotch – according to the NY Post article linked above, he’s been “keen” to “push the boundaries” and “titillate audiences” ever since he came out of the closet. And after his AMA performance, he announced on his Twitter account: “All hail freedom of expression and artistic integrity.” Not a word about good taste.

Isn’t it amazing? Artistic integrity used to be guarded by the likes of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Renoir, who wanted to delight the viewer with a tasteful but individual interpretation of the world. Now all that’s important is being offensive in the name of “freedom of expression.” We’ve certainly come a long way from Elvis’s hidden pelvic thrust on the Ed Sullivan show and parents complaining that the Fab Four’s hair was too long.

Lambert is whining that  he didn’t “intend” to create controversy (BS Alert!), and it was somehow discriminatory to edit his performance when the likes of Madonna and other racy performances by women aren’t. I guess he wasn’t paying attention when NBC aired an edited version of Madonna’s concert in 2006. And how about the uproar after Janet Jackson’s so-called “wardrobe malfunction” while performing with Justin Timberlake during the Superbowl in 2004? (Side note: what IS the deal with Justin Timberlake? I can’t understand his appeal. He can’t sing and he reminds me of Screech on “Saved by the Bell.” Could someone please enlighten me?) Then there were the steamy kisses between Madonna and Britney Spears and Madonna and Christina Aguilera that had plenty of tongues wagging (and not just the ones onstage). Seems to me women catch plenty of flak when they flaunt their disdain for social mores on television.

Besides, just think of the ratings.

But since Lambert is openly gay, we may not criticize or fret for fear of being labeled homophobes. We must rejoice with him in his newly public persona and embrace any outlandish behavior in which he engages onstage – or off – because he is expressing himself in the name of Art. What do we ordinary mortals understand about Art except what we are told by those who create it? They create not for us, but for themselves. We’re just lucky enough for the chance to stand by and respectfully admire.

And it’s important that Lambert shed the goody goody image portrayed on Idol, just as Britney Spears shed her Mickey Mouse Club, schoolgirl persona and Lindsay Lohan shed – well, just about any shred of dignity she ever had. Onstage and off, sex and smut are the currency du jour in the entertainment world, even if the public isn’t buying.

So quitcher bitchin’ and enjoy Lambert’s time in the sun while you can. If you think it’s creepy seeing a man’s face in his crotch now, imagine the same scene when Lambert’s in his 60s.

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: President Obama, Pope Benedict, Obama’s Russian speeches, Obama’s popularity, Captain Sully Sullenberger, Nancy Pelosi, The C.I.A., Congress, Carl Cannon, Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson’s casket, and Britney Spears.

“They are everything that’s wrong with America,” executive vice president of alternative programming for NBC and Universal Media Studios, Paul Telegdy, said in a statement to Access Hollywood. “They are insincere, lazy, entitled and they claim the devil has possessed them.”

Apparently the couple not only demanded the royal treatment, but threatened to quit more than once and basically acted like a couple of spoiled brats.

I’d like to ask Mr. Telegdy: what did he expect? Reality shows take everyday people and turn them into minor celebrities overnight. It’s not like they had to work for years honing their craft while they waited tables and went on endless auditions, hoping and praying for their big break. (Of course, if one or both of your parents is Hollywood royalty, you skip that part and move right on to the big time.) The only “work” involved in reality stardom is standing in line to audition, hoping to get picked; although sometimes people with unusual life circumstances are approached by producers who hope to exploit their lives for ratings that translate into dollar signs (think Nadya Suleman, lovingly referred to by society as the “Octomom”).

So think about it: one day you’re just an average person, perhaps an office drone or a stay-at-home mom whom no one would look twice at while at the grocery store or standing in line at the movies. Next thing you know, every detail of your life is laid bare for public consumption, you’re chased down daily by the paparazzi, and your every move, including your hairstyle and weight, is dissected on shows like Entertainment Tonight. The entertainment media that feeds off of celebrity like a pig at the trough is really quite nauseating at times.

Granted, it can be said that people who seek such fame are asking for it. All you have to do is see what happens to others, like Jon and Kate Gosselin, whose marriage seems to be unraveling and who have dominated the news headlines for weeks. Or Susan Boyle, whose sudden rush to fame via Britain’s Got Talent with a boost from YouTube was so stressful that, after being labeled the favorite to win but coming in second in the show’s finale, she checked into a clinic citing “emotional exhaustion.”

But really, who is truly prepared for the pitfalls of fame? We’ve seen professional singers and actors, who are supposed to know the ropes, crash and burn. (Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan come immediately to mind.) Suddenly wealthy and surrounded by yes-men and other sycophants hoping to somehow cash in on the cash cow, it’s hard to keep real life in perspective.

Heck, even being an amoeba in the large ocean of internet publishing can be unsettling at times. I’ll never forget my first “you’re a ****” e-mail from someone who didn’t agree with something I wrote. It’s truly unpleasant, but unfortunately it also comes with the territory. I’m working on getting a thicker skin.

So the Pratts are acting like prats. Naturally, much of the blame lies with their crass attitude and what Paul Telegdy of NBC noted as their sense of entitlement. But what of the responsibility of reality TV programmers? They put on these shows because they’re popular and are relatively inexpensive to produce and essentially create the monsters that populate them. Who can forget the hapless Stephen Fowler of Wife Swap, whose contemptible treatment of his guest wife Gayla Long earlier this year earned him the hatred of millions across the nation? It cost him both personal and professional embarrassment, and likely had a negative impact on his own marriage. He claimed that he was egged-on by the show’s producers to ham it up. From what I’ve seen, I doubt that he needed much egging.

But no one will ever really know, and surely the show’s director and producers bear some responsibility for the final product. Reality TV isn’t spontaneous; it’s scripted, manipulated, and edited for entertainment and shock value. Big gasps equal big ratings. Someone at the gym I go to even speculated that the Gosselins’ marriage issues are a put-up job intended to boost ratings.

Then there’s us – the public. We put these individuals up on a pedestal and wait like vultures for them to slip up so we can trash them at the first opportunity. Nothing says schadenfreude like gloating over Contestant A being voted off the island because he lost the bug eating challenge for his tribe.

And what happens to these reality stars when the cameras stop rolling? Some manage to use their experience as a stepping-stone to bigger and better things as Elisabeth Hasselbeck did. Others manage to return to everyday life. Still, others likely have difficulty adjusting to their loss of celebrity and must deal with depression, etc. But there’s always a fresh batch of suckers around the corner, waiting for our thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

When you look at it, there’s really no one person to blame when reality TV stars go bad. We’re all culpable in one way or another. And what does that say about us as a society?