This post was submitted by Ben K.

I found myself in the middle of a most interesting juxtaposition earlier in the week.

But first, a quick rewind. For a year I did not have cable and it caused all of my television viewing to drop off completely. This, I must tell you, was wonderful.  It’s not that I spent all my time watching television. In fact, I’ve watched very little episodic TV over the past three years. It’s that I would have to say that in some ways I really was happier without cable.  I allowed cable news to dominate most of my TV viewing, and by the end of it all, it just got to be to annoying, frustrating, and depressing.

I recently moved into a place where cable is included in the rent.  For two months I stayed away from it.  Well, with election night, I got sucked back into the yelling of cable news.  I found myself going back for several days, an addict once more.

And then, it went really downhill.  I didn’t just fall off the wagon, I plummeted.  What else does one do but flip the channel on a commercial break?  And that’s when it happened.  Bravo.  The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

I wish that I could sit here and tell you that I hate this garbage.  I mean, I hate this garbage, but I just couldn’t help myself with the Real Housewives. Orange County.  New York.  Atlanta.  New Jersey.  D.C. happened when I was cableless so I have yet to experience them.  But in this one false flip of the channel, I watched FOUR straight hours of the Beverly Hills installment.  I’m caught up.  Shame on me.

I’ve been wondering how long it would take before a gay version of the Housewives popped up, and frankly, I am really surprised it took as long as it has.  But thanks to Logo, we now have The A-List: New York.  I have avoided watching this show too, and then tried it out the other night.  I was here on The New Gay reading, when I came upon Zack’s entry about Bishop Gene Robinson, and his early retirement due to the stress of death threats.  You should read his post, as it brings up who our gay icons are and who we want them to be.  You can see now the juxtaposition between the two.

I’m not sure who to blame for shows like this, us or them, or maybe both.  I am of the opinion that more often than not, culture is a mirror onto ourselves.  What we choose to watch, read, eat, etc. says a lot about who we are as a people.  I’m not here to beat down the guys on The A-List, but the success of such shows really begs the question of what we hold up as “A-List” in our culture.  I like nice clothes and eating at expensive restaurants too, but give me a break.

It seems to me that the true A-listers in our world would never call themselves as such.  For them to have to step out of the limelight out of bullying and fear is a damn shame. As the saying goes, you can’t take it with you, so it seems to me time to start leaving an impression that lasts longer than a spray tan.

I’ll start by putting down the remote again.

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