. For example; Is your mother sleeping with your boyfriend? Who would one expect to respond to this kind of question? Obviously, the majority of people never encounter this or any of the other sensational topics used to recruit guests. This only serves to re-enforce the point that talk shows are not representative of our society. Vicki Abt, Ph.D. and Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D., researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, believe that talk shows actually corrode society's moral boundaries by confusing right and wrong. Abt says that the cultural distinctions between public and private, credible and incredible witnesses, truth and falseness, good and evil, sickness and irresponsibility, normal and abnormal, therapy and exploitation, intimate and stranger, fragmentation and community are manipulated and erased for our distraction and entertainment (Day 53). We as a society are getting so used to hearing about adultery, incest, or whatever the big topic of the day is that we are starting to accept that type of behavior as normal. It makes it seem as if the underbelly constitutes a much bigger part of society than it actually does. There are not an infinite number of subjects to fill these shows. This will only lead to stranger and more abnormal topics in an attempt to sustain ratings (Kurst 64).Some talk shows seem more like the World Wrestling Federation. Jerry Springer for example has security guards sitting right in front of the guest to maintain the peace. It rarely helps though, usually, to the audiences delight, the guest get in brief rumbles that are as pointless as they are stupid (Kurst 65). The audience definitely enjoys these brief moments of mayhem. But are they healthy? Do they promote good values or do they teach us to solve our problems with our fists? They are not healthy. They only disguise a rating ploy as a way to solve one's problems.In 1995, on the Jenny Jones show, Jonathan Schmitz was soon to meet his s...
