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January 10, 2008

Village Idiot: Which is better, $10,000 or MTV?

Sam Dibble

SALEM — Here's an interesting combination: 1,200 high school students, an administrative secret accompanied by a baffled staff, and an unprecedented all-school assembly. Obviously, MTV's True Life is coming to Salem High School.

As it turned out, there was no such event, and while Science Teacher Ms. Julie Kong should be commended for her outstanding award, there continues to be some argument as to whether $10,000 is actually "way better than MTV," as Kong put it. The student body certainly disagreed.

Over the period of a few days it became apparent that Salem High School is almost as gullible as it is creative. Exactly why the students decided to believe that Kanye West was coming is unclear, but the idea spread like wildfire.

"I saw cameras set up outside," said one student on the day of the assembly. Another was quoted as seeing "a load of cops in the field house." Maybe theses assessments were misconceptions; maybe they were flat out lies. The fact of the matter remains that the students seemed to be fueling a fire that didn't exist.

Who knows, maybe there is a lesson in all of this. The problem is, what is there to learn from? There is no need to give this event a higher meaning. And why should there be? This entire situation is nothing more or less than uncontrollably hilarious. Maybe the whole fiasco has a positive spin after all. It sure gave SHS an outlet for its more inventive side. And, for that matter, its dumber side.

Regardless of reason, SHS had its chance to wonder what the new school uniforms would look like, or who would open for Soulja Boy, or why each athletic team would be getting their own bus. Maybe in the end, Salem High will have learned a lesson on believing what you hear.

But I don't think so. No, I don't feel anyone took much away from this, other than a feeling of bashful disappointed. Yes, we were all fooled by each other; it was funny and stupid; humiliating and enjoyable.

So what is better, $10,000 or MTV? Who knows, but what is better, $10,000 or all of SHS being thrown into a scene of bizarre chaos for a week? I vote in favor of chaos. Hell, I'd pay $10,000 just to see something so creative again.

And judging by the way SHS seems to operate, I won't be surprised if I get the chance again.

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