The Show "Kept" on VHI

June 20

Recently, while flipping through some channels, I stumbled upon yet another reality TV show. The show is yet another attempt to exploit people's desire for self-importance and riches. I must admit that the premise of the show was engaging. Several men, who are young, viril, handsome... Eh, you get the idea. Anyway these young men are all vie for the opportunity to, drum-role please, to become a "kept" man.

The woman who proposes to do the keeping is none other than Jerry Hall. Ms.Hall who is equally famous for being a model and the ex-wife of Mick Jaggar, is offering the golden carrot of being part of her world and all the privileges that go with it. The show is so tragic it is like a train wreck that you can't stop looking at. After, several moments I asked myself could this show exist if the roles were reversed? Instead of a rich woman, a rich man seeking a kept woman. Oh, the women's rights groups would be up in arms! And rightly so, exploitation of another person is a crime against what it is to be human. To use a person as a means to and end is something most people can agree is, dare I say immoral. Yes, I know that morals are subjective, but who wants to be used as an object or a slave for that matter.

If these so called reality shows are indicative of reality, we are in some deep cocoa mix. On a current Ophrah show, it was stated that right now on earth there are more people in some form of slavery than any other time in history. Furthermore, in today's time slaves are dirt cheap. In some underdeveloped countries, parents sell their own children for as little as the equivalent of forty-dollars U.S currency. This low amount is not surprising, given that human life is held in such low regards these days. As enlightened and technologically advanced as we have become, we still practice the archaic shackling of other human beings.

Think about the motives of the young men on the show "Kept" and it seems perverse that they are competing for the opportunity to be "kept" men. The word "kept" signifies an object, something that belongs to you. The writing is on wall; slavery is making a comeback. And its no longer about color. It's about your social-economical standing, and survival of the fittest. The chains are invisible, but the restriction of another human beings right to natural liberty is being revoked.

The pursuit of life, happiness and liberty is a human ideal. Unfortunately, like most ideals the perfect example of our natural liberties does not exist. But, for some who have money, power, and education the options are greater. The greater the options the greater the freedom. So, I guess the less options you have the closer you are to being a slave. With all my soap box rhetoric, I guess the question is, will we as a race of humans ever be truly free? I ask this because hypothetically, put in a certain set of circumstances, the idea of being "kept" would tempt anyone. However, what set of circumstances would justify being the keeper? Some will say that they would rather be the keeper than the kept.

Until oppression of humans by other humans ceases, we will never evolve. Where is the virtue in society? It has been replaced by superficial measures. No, longer do we admire each other for character and deed. Instead, we admire who has the most and who looks the best. Yes, survival of the fittest is the natural order of life but the advancement of humans remains stagnant. We are no closer to a utopian society, then the generations before us. And we never will be closer to an ideal society as long as we enslave each other.