I cancelled my cable subscription a few weeks ago, and I have had to make do with the programming I receive through my antenna. Its a good one, and I get a great number of channels, but for the most part they are small broadcasters, fly by night outfits, Spanish language outlets and the major networks and PBS. No more cable news, no premium channels, no hundreds of stations.

But not only is there a sharp reduction in quality programming, I have noticed even the commercials are different. Apparently, the people who advertise on the local channels are going after a different audience altogether.

I see a lot of commercials directed to the low-end consumer finance market; no more stockbrokers and financial advisers, no dignified and refined voices pitching mutual funds, corporate data services and luxury German sedans. Now they’re plugging check cashing services, finance companies and salary advance houses and short-term financing and extravagantly large pickup trucks. Others offer to replace your long-term annuity with a lump sum payment. There are lots of ads for shyster lawyers promising to let you profit big time from your auto accident or medical malpractice issues, or to sue for your industrial disease.

There are fly-by-night cut-rate auto insurance companies, and people who will make your tax liens and traffic tickets go away. And there are lots of ads for diploma mills, online colleges that will give you advanced training in things like Forensic Science, Court Reporting, Motorcycle Repair, outboard motor maintenance and Cosmetology (Financing Available!). There are retailers, too, and they sell household furnishings and appliances with extreme long term financing. It makes you wonder whether the merchandise will outlast the payments.

Its like there is a whole alternate universe out there, a parallel reality existing just under our own, and inhabited by a whole different population. There is an underbelly to this society that seems to be just barely hanging on. Apparently there is a big market out there for people who want cosmetic surgery, Brazilian butts, painless hair removal, liposuction, help with their taxes, debt restructuring, Botox, exotic hair preparations and cosmetics, skin lighteners and hair straighteners.

And they’re not all young! A lot of goods and services are marketed to the elderly, things that will provide them with safety and security, quick access to their children and grandchildren, with reverse mortgages and medical discounts.

The world is a big place, but one doesn’t have to look far or long to see that there are other tribes among us. And I haven’t even begun to survey the Spanish language stations yet.