Pop Culture and Its Life Lessons

They like to say pop culture teaches kids all the wrong things. I say, not always! Believe it or not, they teach life skills too.

Situation 1:

Dealing with husbands/boyfriends who cheat on you with a mutual friend:

Strategy to remember: an eye for an eye.

"You won't know who and you won't know when. But I am gonna pick one person that we both know and I'll have a ravaging good time with him. Then, I'll end it and you and me can start all over."

And that, is what I learnt watching Cashmere Mafia.

Talk about messing with his head and putting him on edge every time he sees you dolling up before going out and every time he meets your mutual friends!


Situation 2:

Dealing with the disabled and unreasonable, who use their disability as a reason to lord it over you and see it as their right to cut queues/steal your parking space etc:

Strategy to remember: be ruthless.

"I walk around in heels all day and you get to roll (in your wheelchair)."

Said Gabby in Desperate Housewives.

So politically incorrect, so mean, so true and so unapologetic. She says things we wish we dare to say.


Something that an English major like me really appreciates about bitch-shows is that besides life lessons, they teach English too.

Xiaomei (Gabby's help from China): "You the meanest person I know."

Gabby: "You are THE meanest person. You've been in the country a year. Modify you nouns, damn it."

Xiaomei: "What. A. Bitch."


If you've always wondered why some people seem to get drawn to brainless TV, now you have 2 examples that give you your answer. It isn't that brainless. It takes quite a bit of wit on the part of the writers to come up with lines like these. And bitch-shows (Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle and the like) addicts really appreciate the brilliant script-writing.

And that, Long, is my long overdue response to your call for some action here.