This week on Reality TV Reality , the worlds most watched simulated drama...
What is real... really?
In last night's episode of "The America with Donald Trump", Vice President Pence (played by Mike Pence) was brought in for a dramatic tie breaker signature confirming Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, resolving a cliff hanger 50/50 vote by the US Senate.
We know this because we saw it on TV, in the news, on the Internet.
Or did we?
It is has been nearly 3 weeks since the global experiment Reality TV Reality (RTR) immersed us in this shockingly real simulation of life under President Trump.
The show has been been a brilliant success in it's ability to convince us that what we see, hear, and read is in fact truly happening. One of the more successful gaffes has been the president's accusations (played by business man turned reality star Donald Trump) that all dissenting voices are FAKE NEWS. Like the orobus eating it's tail, it is difficult to unravel where this global life simulation ends, and where reality begins.
The effort has not been entirely effortless, as attested by the nearly 2500 person cast and crew of this genre bending production. Physical and virtual sets have been elaborately crafted to create a most convincing representation of their real world counterparts.
As visual effects supervisor Eric Robertson explains, "The key was to recreate every detail so that the audience would not detect any discernible nuance that would give it away. By transparently inserting the broadcast into thousands of global ISP's and cable providers, we have been able to persist the illusion of reality."
As an example of this huge undertaking, Eric and his team were tasked with recreating a whole alternate Internet, mirroring a number of popular sites and blogs to give the audience the perception that they were getting news, tweets, and video feeds from trusted sources.
One of the most controversial consequences of Reality TV Reality has been the show's ability to polarize viewers into violently opposing factions. As noted by lead writer Susan Holiday, "This goes way beyond team Jacob vs. team Edward into some truly blue/black dress vs white/gold shit. People are seriously tweaked as we prod their biggest fears, and challenge their most strongly held beliefs".
While the show has been the most viewed in the history of humanity, it is not without it's criticisms. The real Vladimir Putin expressed some doubts of his onscreen counter-part, calling him a little 2-dimensional and unbelievable. Meanwhile, reports of Reality TV Reality star Donald Trump are that he has embraced the challenge of going from the boss of his fictional reality show company to the boss of the free world. He is confident that his star power has never been higher.
The bigger question is how long this ruse will persist and can we continue for 4 more seasons? Only time will tell.