Steven Slater, the disgruntled Jet Blue flight attendant who has soared to fame on the wings of his spectacular meltdown at New York’s JFK Airport on Monday, seems to be television’s next great candidate for reality stardom.

Hailed as a hero by some quarters on the internet, the Hollywood Reporter is seriously asking how Slater can extend his 15 minutes of fame. And there’s little doubt there will be offers.

This is a world, after all, where Levi Johnston can knock up the daughter of a vice presidential candidate and get his own show pitched to the networks. It’s a world where Ryan and Tatum O’Neal can hawk a reality show about their effort to repair their dysfunctional father-daughter relationship (apparently having the world look in on their most private moments will help the process). It’s a world where fading celebrities seek a comeback by building shows around their addictions to drugs or food or whatever. It’s a world where Blago fields reality show offers (and competes on The Apprentice) even while waiting to stand trial on political corruption charges.

Now, I know as Christians, we are called to restrain from judging others. That’s a good value worth living. But there’s a difference between not judging other people and celebrating personal dysfunction and/or alleged political corruption. And that seems to be the rut our culture has gotten us into.

In my opinion, Steven Slater is not a hero.  He’s just a guy who lost control and shouldn’t have — no matter how obnoxious any particular passenger was or wasn’t. He may be a good person — but his dysfunctional behavior should not catapult him to stardom.
 
None of us are perfect and I’m certainly not calling for the condemnation of anyone.  What I do believe though is that we all would would benefit by holding up more examples of heroes  – like CNN does with it’s Heroes series or the Catholic Channel (on Sirius Satellite Radio) does with the Everyday Heroes segment of its Seize the Day morning radio program.

Where are the reality shows featuring the good work done by groups like Doctors Without Borders and other groups and individuals dedicated to the lifting up of all people. These stories should be told and are every bit as dramatic as Breaking Bonaduce (a terrible name when you think of it).

Everyone (including the struggling stars of these hideous shows) would be a lot better off if we’d focus our attention elsewhere while these realibrities got their act together away from the glare of the cameras and the pressures of Nielsen ratings (which encourages wacky antics which aren’t really funny in real life).

Let’s hold up our best parents, teachers, scientists, doctors, social workers, entrepreneurs, missionaries and bloggers (just kidding, we’re a sorry lot) and give them the attention they deserve and us the positive examples we all need.