The Irony of Profit

It seems as though I am constantly confronted in the news by the fact that ordinary Americans are outraged by the profits that banks and health insurance companies are attempting to make at someone's expense. I am told by these paid teleprompter readers, pundits, and others of those 'in the know' that this outrage has to do with the greed that these people show in attempting to make money for themselves or their companies at the expense of just plain ordinary folks. I am likewise told that this is not something that the American people are in any way interested in seeing occur in this world. 


Imagine my surprise then, when I see what these same ordinary Americans are watching on TV for entertainment. It is nothing more (or less) than people attempting to do the very same thing that they find so wrong in these corporations. One has to do no more than visit the current crop of reality television shows to see that this is so. "American Pickers" tells the story of two guys who scour the country to find bits of memorabilia that they can buy cheap (obviously in a greedy attempt to take things from ordinary Americans) and sell them at a profit. "Ax Wars" portrays a plucky group of lumbermen who cut down trees in remote parts of the country only to sell them to lumber mills at a profit. (This show carries the additionally disgusting message of lionizing those raping Mother Nature to feed evil corporations.) "Pawn Wars" shows us a family business (and a rather dysfunctional family at that) buying treasures from other families now down on their luck, only to be able to later turn them around and sell them at a profit. 


And these are just the shows on every week on The History Channel, a network whose original purpose was ostensibly to provide information, education, and entertainment relating to the subject contained in its title. The Arts and Entertainment Network has its contributions as well with "Dog the Bounty Hunter" glorifying a person who hunts men for profit and "Billy the Exterminator" who kills pests for profit. The Bravo Network takes this to the next level (down) by simply making shows about people who cut hair, model, or just live in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, or Orange County; apparently for nothing more than money. The Entertainment Channel finally hits a societal bottom with a plethora of shows about people who live for little other money and the notoriety that it brings (and manage to make even more of a profit by doing so). 


Obviously all of these networks and all of these shows wouldn't be on the air (even on cable) if there wasn't some group of people out there watching them. Their numbers would not be increasing each and every new television season unless these networks were similarly making a profit by broadcasting them. 


And while I certainly don't have all of the answers here (a shock, I know), the question in my mind then becomes whether the American people are actually against the concept of anyone making a profit, or have we merely allowed an elite intelligentsia (who all seem to be doing pretty well financially) to attempt to dictate such standards to us. In the end, little of it may qualify as actual entertainment as far as I am concerned, but there is little doubt that there is a great deal of irony these days in the making of a profit.