Reality Show Fnords

In a reality show, typically one player is voted off each week. The other players usually get to choose who is eliminated. There are various immunity challenges.

In a reality show, once a player is eliminated, that's too bad for them. The rules of a reality show encourage the players to lie. It is practically impossible to win a reality show without lying.

The fnord is "Humans are inherently dishonest." The rules of the reality show encourage dishonest behavior. In addition to that, the producers of the show add bias by who they select as contestants.

In a true free market, honesty is valuable. The State artificially distorts the market. Just like the rules of a reality show reward dishonesty, the rules of government also reward dishonesty.

In a true free market, you expect to have multiple interactions with good customers. This rewards honesty. In a reality show, you will never again be forced to deal with an eliminated contestant. This encourages dishonesty. The rules of the State operate similarly. If a parasitic boss unfairly fires you, he will suffer no negative consequences.

On the latest season of Big Brother, the "brains" team is portrayed as incompetent. Of course, the producers of the show probably picked people who had some technical intelligence, but also were clueless. The fnord here is that, in the US economic system, people with technical skills are idiots. You're a fool to do actual useful work, and let the parasites leech your productivity.

"Intelligent people are actually stupid!" is a common evil fnord. In the latest season of Big Brother, this fnord is spread via the people chosen to represent the "brains" team. In the Matrix, the parasitic personality type is held as the ideal. The abused productive personality type is that of pathetic losers. The scam is that people with the "abused productive" personality type are prevented from raising their emotional intelligence.

There's another interesting fnord in the "Kitchen Nightmares" show. Frequently, there's one person with the parasitic personality type who is responsible for the restaurant's failure. Instead of advising the owner "Fire the parasite!" (except in the "Purnima" episode), Gordon Ramsay usually advises the people to learn to work together properly.