This week began a new season of the hit abc show, “the Bachelorette”. If you tuned in, you watched as the Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay, a 31 year old Lawyer from Dallas, Texas and former contestant on “the Bachelor” was introduced to all of the male contestants vying for her “heart”. Each contestant was introduced individually and then made their way into a house where they would all wait to spend a little extra time with Rachel to make a “first impression” later in the evening.
In true painstaking reality tv pace, each contestant proved to be worse and worse, with props getting larger and more ridiculous. After meeting Rachel, each contestant walked into the house. As the show progressed, you could see that mostly all contestants, despite how well groomed and/or dressed, they were nothing more than a bunch of boys in a pissing contest.
Attitudes and egos began to take over. Awkward passive aggressive insults began flying around from one contestant to the other. These supposed “men” were nothing more than man-boys put in an awkward situation that none of them could handle. I couldn’t help but think to myself, if this is the best America has to offer in terms of what men are today, then we are in big trouble as a nation.
The only redeeming contestants were two men – oddly enough with the same name – Kenny, a 35 y/o Pro Wrestler from Lost Wages, NV and Kenneth, a 31 y/o Senior Inventory Analyst from Chicago that displayed any class. On the opposite side of the spectrum and scraping the bottom of the barrel was a 30 year old named Lucas who introduced himself by shaking uncontrollably while simultaneously shouting, “wha-booom”, his nickname. Did I mention he had a cartoonified version of himself screen printed on a t-shirt under his jacket?
A sign at the Sunset Marquis Hotel once read, “If we were any more Hollywood, our pool would be shallow at both ends.” and I couldn’t think of a better tagline for this season’s show. Never has the Gentleman’s movement been more necessary.