From Gs to Gents

I don't have cable television so I'm out of the loop (way out) on most of the popular t.v. shows these days, but even if I had cable I probably wouldn't watch MTV. But today I came across mention of the show "From Gs to Gents" that a new season was starting. I didn't know what "Gs" meant but I know what "Gents" means so I figured it must be some kind of reality make-over show. I did a quick Google search and found the official website which includes the full first episode of the new season, where the 16 Gs are introduced. I learned that Gs are "ganstas" - oh please! If it's one thing I utterly despise, it's that ghetto crap talk complete with profanity that is so profuse, it becomes meaningless. I was intrigued by the premise though. If these guys were truly Gs, could they make the changes necessary to learn the way toward becoming a true gentleman? Are some of these guys "ganstas"? Some of them wouldn't scare Edward G. Robinson, but I suppose some of them are ganstas (believe me guys, that is not a compliment) and if I saw any one of them walking down the street toward me I'd probably think "trouble" along with a twinge of disgust at such a worthless specimen. Some of these fellows have had brushes with the law (on the wrong side), at least one has been to prison for armed robbery (ironically, one of the better spoken of the guys who seems he could get something on the ball), and several of these young "men" have children themselves. To a man, the ones who had children said they were doing this for their children, so that they might have better lives. Yeah, well, if your lives suck so much, dudes, why did you bring new life into the world when you are not equipped to care for it? Didn't think about keeping it in your pants, did you? I get sick of the BS, you know? I watched the show online during my lunch hour. Is there a way to skip the commercials? Probably not - it's not as if it's on a VCR where you can zap through the commercials. The commercials were truly awful, but I found the show interesting. Some of the fellows have very sad life stories, some of them were just silly-butt jerks, and a couple of them were so utterly clueless - they were the saddest of all. I felt sorry for them. They were truly pathetic. The most clueless of them all is "Riff-Raff" from Texas, who has colored wool (or something) woven into his awful hair (it looks as if cooties could jump out at any second and eat the camera), disfiguring tatoos all over, gold foil or whatever it is on several of his teeth (he was constantly picking at his teeth throughout the show), his eyebrows have hash-marks shaved into them. He talks trash and ghetto combined, wore absolutely awful clothes but I guess in his mode of life he is considered somewhat fashionable. His life consists of getting drunk and drunker on the weekends and then waiting through the rest of the week until the next weekend comes. I believe he is a drug dealer, but I could be wrong about that. If he was cleaned up, all the silly clothes removed and given a decent haircut, he would look like a young Woody Harrelson - until he opened up his mouth. Part of the process in show one was a one-on-one interview with the head of the Gentlemen's Club - I do not know who he is so I cannot tell you his name or what he is famous for. But he is famous, judging by the reaction of the Gs. They were equal parts envious and impressed with this man. During one of these interviews, the G said he knew that if he showed up at a job interview dressed as he was (with those silly saggy pants that show underwear and butt-crack, the backwards hat, the gold chains, the athletic shoes that cost hundreds of dollars and are useless for anything athletic) and he opened his mouth and out came ghetto, he would not get a job. Gee - ya think? That particular G showed something resembling introspection and the ability to relate his actions to something other than ghetto and gangs and a dead-end life. Poor Riff-Raff, on the other hand, said he was in school for 11 years and did not remember a thing. And when he said that, he didn't know whether to look proudly defiant, or just plain scared. If he was trying for proudly defiant, he failed miserably. He just looked plain scared. Very very sad. What I wonder is - do any Gs or wannabe Gs watch this show and, if they do, do they learn anything from it? One of the things that an education does is to teach a person that he/she does NOT have to make the same mistakes of those who went before. Do they get it? By the end of the show I had a few favorites and I will check from time to time to see if there are updates on the show about who makes it through, and who doesn't. The winner receives $100,000. It could be life-changing. But hopefully, just being on the show for several weeks will teach at least some of these fellows a few life lessons worth learning. It does matter how one dresses, walks and talks. And ghetto is a sure ticket to the wrong end of the street. I hope some of the guys get the message.