"And the loser is ..."

I'm disturbed by the way in which reality TV shows focus on losers and losing.

TV coverage of competitions used to build up to the moment when a winner emerged. The camera would then lock in on the winner and let the audience share in his or her exultation – while the losers quickly faded from sight.

• "May I have the envelope, please? ... And the winner is ...."

• "Here she is – Miss America! ..."

• "The winnah – and still champeen of da woild! ..."

But reality television seems to focus primarily on who's going to lose:

• Who's going to get kicked off the island?

• Who's going to be booted out of the house?

• Who will be voted off "Idol?"

Reality-television losers are generally dispatched in mock-pompous ceremonies designed to reflect the mock importance of the event. After building suspense up to a suitable level, the host announces the week's loser – with the camera pointed at the castoff to ensure that the audience can extract maximum entertainment value from the rejectee's disappointment and humiliation.

What does it all mean?

Is reality television's preoccupation with losers and losing – and the TV audience's enthusiastic acceptance of that preoccupation – a symptom of a negative attitude shift in the larger society?

Has there been loss of hope in America? An increase in anger? A lessening of compassion?

Or am I just looking for deeper meaning where none exists?

I don't know for sure.

But I can't shake the feeling that it's not a good sign that so much TV entertainment now seems to revolve around the failures of others.