Rats! Viewer has reflux

Forget the violence, sex, cursing and straight-up stupidity on your TV screen -- the genuine travesty on the boob tube these days is food. And no, it's not French delicacies on the Food Network. \nTwo months ago, contestants on "Fear Factor" faced a challenge of urban proportions. The competitors watched a kitchen blender spin a whole rat into a mushy consistency -- then they had to eat the rodent shake. Apparently, participants eating rat guts took a harsh physical toll. Vomit, dizziness and even a collision with a door resulted from the challenge, but it was a viewer -- not the contestants -- who experienced these debilitating effects. \nThose dangerous symptoms added up to a rough night of primetime entertainment, and somebody was going to pay up. This so horrified a 49-year-old man, Austin Aitken, that he filed a lawsuit in Cleveland seeking $2.5 million.\nThis epitomizes frivolous lawsuits. In fact, Aitken, a paralegal, believes the problem of pureéd rodents is so serious that it does not require professional legal counsel to remedy, but merely four handwritten pages to get the court's attention. Better watch out, NBC. Aitken's wielding his mighty pen. \nPerhaps this man truly feels that the Nov. 8, 2004, episode of "Fear Factor" crossed a line of disgust that no other "Fear Factor" approached. Perhaps he did suffer $2.5 million of damage to his esophagus from his stomach acid, but he admitted to The Associated Press that he didn't necessarily want a huge cash settlement. \nMaybe this character isn't after money. It's possible that Aitken thinks he's doing his part to clean up America's living rooms. Instead, he should focus on cleaning up his own living room after vomiting in it.\nHe told Reuters News Service that his problem with "Fear Factor" was that "NBC is sending the wrong message to its TV watchers that cash can make or have people do just about anything beyond reasoning and in most cases against their will." \nSo the "Fear Factor" competitors eat gross meals and throw their bodies around because NBC forces them? In the entertainment business, every camera shot is contractual, but no one in "Fear Factor" has to sign up for the show in the first place. \nQuit complaining, Aitken. You're not being forced to eat rats or to watch others eat them.\nIt's entirely possible that those gutsy hotties on "Fear Factor" actually inspired this fellow Aitken to pull an outrageous stunt and get people talking about him, as we are now. \nTelevision is a marketplace. When we turn our TVs to a certain channel, we're giving the go-ahead to the show's producers and to the network's marketing department. If "Fear Factor" is distasteful to viewers, more people will turn it off, and Aitken can just sit back and look on as NBC cancels the show. If you don't like a show, it's up to you to change the channel.