...but then so is anything that reveals how we really think, as opposed to how we BELIEVE we think.

I remember telling myself, back when I was down-'n'-out in high school, that I shouldn't worry - things will improve when I can associate mainly with grown-ups. The lying, teasing, meanness, stupidity, and general tendency toward evil would vanish and most people would be kind and wise like my parents.

Then I got out into the real world and discovered how exceptional my parents actually were. Most adults simply substitute greed and lust for some of the "less mature" behaviors and PARTY ON!

No surprise then that CBS, under fire for its dog-eat-dog early format, opted to celebrate consumerism and the kids responded warmly. A $20,000 gold star - or more correctly, the chance to win one - will buy you a lot of parental goodwill. Making campfulls of kids share a single crapper will not.

As with all reality TV, no higher purpose will ever be served. Don't look for the kids to engineer some exotic new social methodology, as CBS' hype would have you believe. They might as well have called it "Fear Factor II: Children Dying in the Desert" and gone for a higher rating.

What Robbers Cave shows us is that the demos is not capable of much more than either a) hatred, lust, and casual violence or b) greed, lust, and casual arrogance. Throw in a l'il religion to make everyone feel better about it and you have America in a nutshell.

Of course as the nation continues to dumb down we'll see more shows like this one. Maybe lawsuits, like the ones that downed so many other "reality" shows that destroyed or spun actual human lives for our nightly entertainment, will save us from this crass tastelessness. Don't bet on it, though.

Dumb sells. Dumb buys, too.