I have to admit something from the get go, I have never seen a single episode of Jersey Shore. I do not subscribe to cable, and even when I did I was not a fan of most of the realty tv show genre. The plethora of realty tv shows that dominate cable, in part, is why we finally decided to get rid of cable, 200+ channels and never anything to watch.

Yesterday during a Facebook convo Snooki came up in passing, and a friend of ours had no idea who she was or why she was being referenced in an obvious negative way. This got me to thinking, I have not seen her show, my own kids are not fans, I do not really follow celeb gossip sites, and I have not read her book, yet I do know of her, at least in a very cursory way. And what I do know of Snooki tends to be either wrapped up in snark or downright negative.

So perhaps out of boredom or because I genuinely wanted to know more about her (I lean heavily towards the former) I did a bit of research last night.

Before becoming a realty tv personality Nicole Polizzi aka Snooki studied veterinary care at a local college. Apparently her break came when she was spotted on an episode of Is She Really Going Out with Him? by the casting directors of Jersey Shore. In 2009 she was considered the breakaway star of the show apparently upstaging the rest.

So how much of Nicole is really Snooki or vice versa. How much of the Snooki persona is real? Intelligent tv viewers know to take all of these "realty" tv shows with a grain of salt. I once heard it put best by a former paranormal realty tv personalty who said, the only difference between what he did and an actor is that he played "himself" or at best a caricature of himself. I'm willing to bet this is most likely true of Snooki as well.

Yes, I know she has been arrested, and in the process grabbed many more headlines and got compared publicly by a judge no less to Lindsay Lohan. How many Hollywood celebs in the past got tons of publicity out of minor violations, and charges that left one wondering whether it was all just to grab some headlines. In the land of la la isn't it all about having them spell your name right?

The truth is that most likely only Nicole's closest family and friends know how much of Snooki the realty tv personality is just a put on vs Nicole herself.

Her character may be distasteful or off putting to some, and it is highly doubtful she'll be remembered for her brilliance, she is very young though so I wouldn't completely count her out at this point. However with that said, in a country which is seeing mass foreclosures and bankruptcy Nicole was paid $32,000 for an hour lecture at Rutgers University. The money she was paid for appearing on WWE with Trish Stratus (hometown gal) was more than many Americans will see in a year including veterinary technicians. And while I would personally not want to be on her life's path, as I sit here getting ready to prepare my bi-monthly grocery budget it is hard to completely fault her particularly as she really isn't harming anyone, and the only thing she is perhaps exploiting is herself.

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