With all the hubbub over MTV’s new reality program, Jersey Shore, and its portrayal of Italian-Americans, I thought I’d better check it out and see for myself what all the fuss is about.

After all, as an Italian-American myself, I have a vested interest.

The show, which debuted earlier this month, chronicles the lives of eight summer housemates in the New Jersey resort community of Seaside Heights. Cameras follow the group from bars to hot tubs, as they stew in massive amounts of alcohol, aggression, and sexual tension.

The controversy, aside from the group’s grossly decadent lifestyle, lies in the portrayal, and propagation of, Italian-American stereotypes. With the group’s overwhelming Italian-ness always front and center, the heavy-handed stereotypes are hard to miss. Especially with the epithet guido (as well as the female version, guidette) tossed around liberally.

While guido may not have the same history and resonance as wop, guinea, or dago, it’s still an ethnic slur. And it’s staggering to think that MTV, in this day and age, would really think it’s okay to shill a show with “the hottest, tannest, craziest guidos" who "keep their hair high, their muscles juiced and their fists pumping all summer long!"

The problem, aside from an insult to viewers’ intellect, is that this sort of thing promotes a false impression to a mass audience. With the repetitious nature of network television, people become desensitized to the characterizations and begin to think this is what all Italians are like. We’re not, but as Joseph Goebbels said, “If you repeat a lie many times, people are bound to start believing it.”

It’s especially shocking since MTV touts itself as being hip, now, and in touch with the youth of this country. In reality, all they prove with this is that they’re old hat, out-of-touch, and lacking in any kind of sensitivity. I mean really, what’s next for MTV, a show done in blackface?

The good news is that it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Domino’s Pizza and American Family Insurance have already pulled their ads from the show. Italian-American advocacy groups have called for a boycott. And Linda Stasi, TV critic for the New York Post, wrote that Jersey Shore is “the most hateful, anti-Italian-American show ever allowed on legitimate TV”.

Granted, Hollywood’s never been kind to us Italians. For every Moonstruck, there are scores of gangster stories and other unflattering or patronizing characterizations.

I’ll even admit that I’m partial to some of the negative portrayals, such as the Corleone family from The Godfather series, The Sopranos, and pretty much any character in any Scorsese film. They’re rich and deeply layered characters. Although flawed, they come across as real and believable people.

The housemates depicted on Jersey Shore, however, have no redeeming qualities. Their actions and attitudes are offensive. Their behaviour displays all seven of the Deadly Sins, quite often simultaneously. Their lives, as portrayed on the show, are moronic, vapid, and pointless.

In short, Jersey Shore illustrates perfectly the banality of prejudice.