Real World Interview

Many weeks ago, I applied to be an assistant casting director for MTV's "The Real World" when they visited my campus in search of some "talent". After I was selected, knowing that I was a journalism major, I was asked by the coordinator if I wanted to interview, Damon Furberg, the head casting director/producer of "Real World". I jumped on board, and two days later had a 45 minute phone interview. I edited it down to under 5, and podcasted it on The Indiana Daily Student's website. The clip is below.

Duopoly on Politics

Imagine your next trip to the grocery store. As you pull into the parking lot, you slow down and look around; confused. You think about calling the local law enforcement to let them know that there may or may not be a Kroger store at-large, but you decide not to push your luck. I mean, its only been two weeks since you called the police to help you figure out the mechanics of single-direction traffic. F*** 'em. In place of your beloved supermarket, is a 1,000 square foot convenience store. Walking inside, you see some of the same types of items that you remember in the store you swear you were standing in two weeks ago, but the prices are outrageous. The cereal section is composed of Cheerios and 'wienies in a can'. You can't find Cool Whip. Hiving, you look around for some sort of answer. Above the cigarettes, you see a sign that reads "No competition. No choices. Love, Management". You sprint out of the store, only to be held up by the automatic door that swears it didn't see you coming. As you sit with your car idling, you think about how this could happen. How could we as Americans allow businesses to monopolize the food industry, causing us to pay 100s of times the worth of products, without the variety? What happened to the cheaper versions of our favorite items? Could it be our willingness to pay anything for our comfort foods because of the product's name, that led the lesser known competitors to fade? What the hell just happened?

What happened is I just threw an extended metaphor all up in your mind.

You see, instead of our country and its citizens supporting competition, we discourage it. Want proof that we are far from a country with capitalistic tendencies, just look at our political culture. No other industry in America is competition so suppressed, than in our political parties. We scoff at third party politicians, and even more at those who vote for them. We always choose one of the two parties that make up our duopoly, no matter the cost. This allows Democrats and Republicans to mark themselves up more than fountain soda at a restaurant. Third party candidates do not deserve to be elected more than the Red and Blue parties do. In fact, even if people started voting on value instead of party sponsorship, it will probably take decades to elect a candidate who is truly part of a third party( Listen Joe, getting elected as an independent but claiming that you'll vote as a Democrat the majority of the time means that you won because you had an Ass branded on your... ass).

In the meantime, Americans need to start treating the other parties like what they really are. Third wheels. No matter how quirky or annoying they may be on the date, the tag along is always there to provide a different angle on the events that took place. Plus, at the end of the night, they are there to make sure no one gets screwed. If citizens start promoting a democratic system by listening to third party ideals, then the branded candidates will start to alter their platforms in order to appeal to the voters going astray. The major parties will start pricing themselves closer to what they are truly worth, phrases that are scarily too common like "the lesser of two evils" and "wasted vote" will soon be considered historical colloquialisms and the duopoly on politics will begin to fade.