Yesterday I was watching TV with a friend. It was her idea to have the remote, and she got fixated on some commercial. Suddenly, not only did I realize she was on the E channel, but Keeping Up with the Kardashians was on. She asked me an innocent question that grew into something rather telling about American culture.

She asked me “Who are the Kardashians?”

She has been free of the whole Kim Kardashian hype, and while I found that refreshing, trying to explain how she got famous enough for her own TV show proved confusing. I didn't bother going into the background story of her father being the lawyer for OJ Simpson. It took me a few seconds to try and figure out why she was famous. Finally, I told her she was famous because she had a big butt.

“Like Selena?” she asked.

I laughed. I was waiting for the J. Lo comment but I was educated much later on that big booty reference points depends on your cultural heritage. Someone that was Hispanic and back East would use J. Lo while West of the Mississippi would be in Tejano music and Selena was king. As I was pointedly reminded, it was J. Lo who got the part of Selena in the movie because her butt resembled Selena, so Selena was the butt that all other butts are molded after.

In any case, she didn't see the big deal with Kim's butt, which then brought me to the obvious sex tape. She understood the sex tape but couldn't figure out how she could go from that to a TV show. She asked if she sang or danced, and I had to admit all she did was the show. I finally told her she was like Paris Hilton, which allowed her to put the sex tape and celebrity thing together.

“So all she does is talk on this show?” she asked. I had to admit that was it.

That conversation opened up my mind about us. Now I'm sure Mexico has their own version of Paris and Kim, people who are famous for being famous and nothing else. I don't know if those folks have TV shows but in explaining to her Kardashian, it became so clear how bad our entertainment has to be. Forget the fact it's a reality show, with its own inherit problems, but the person makes a sex tape and gets a show. The person who made the sex tape with her, Ray J, has his own reality show. At least in his case he tries to sing and put out some music, but still he got the show not so much for his singing but for the tape and competition for Kardashian's show.

It was just too silly to reasonably explain to her because I couldn't understand it myself. What is getting easier to figure out is being on a trashy reality show with no talent will get you a reality show. I hate to do it, but I must blame my man Flava Flav for that. Yes, I liked the train wreck that was Flavor of Love, but then you had I Love New York, then Bret Michaels, Tila Tequilla and a batch of other spawns. Just when I thought this splicing couldn't get much lower (The Cougar, about 20 men in their 20s trying to hook up with an OK looking 40 year old seemed to be rock bottom) one of the cast offs from Bret Michael's show got her own show.

I think her name is Daisy, and she's about as attractive as a used, groupie, plastic stripper can look, and since she has to have the trashy, raunchy, past her prime metal vibe going on, they picked 20 coke addicted, trying to be in a band, dirty wanna bes. I haven't seen the show but the commercials and a few clips I've seen make me feel so dirty.

But this is a show on TV and will make money, spawning even more sick reality. It's just a gas trying to explain some of our habits to foreigners.