> There is nothing about “The Jerry Springer Show” to be applauded — after all, his guests, representing an enormous variety of lifestyles deviating from what is perceived as the norm, were packaged as freaks and brought onstage to be mocked by the audience, and to be (at least seemingly) sternly judged by Springer.

There's a lot of interesting lines to be studied between this show and media in the current era, from Fox News to TikTok to politics to the comment sections. Something about intentionally rallying the worst emotions we can conjure up out of vulnerable people for the ratings.