I am a realist. My day job is to parse the teeming dumpster fire that is our current state of affairs and make sense of them in writing. As a journalist, parent and citizen, I believe it’s our responsibility to stay as updated as we can about what’s happening around us. Hiding from it will not help.

But have you tried Hilaria?

Watching the yoga instructor, fake Spanish person and wife of Alec Baldwin spin around to a J. Lo song on “Dancing With the Stars” is not going to bring world peace. But it did, for a few moments, completely hold my attention and make me briefly forget that so much beyond the screen is way messed up. I was transfixed like it was my job: Were her seven kids with Baldwin going to be on set? What accent was she going to use? What word in English might she pretend to forget the pronunciation of?

Not a bit of this matters in the real world, but the real world is still going to be there, angry and burning, after this tango. The fall TV lineup of mindless, deliciously ridiculous shows like “DWTS,” “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race,” “Shark Tank” and “Celebrity Weakest Link” could not be coming at a better time.

You know how they said reality television was going to be the ruin of the world? For me, right now, it’s saving it, one hour at a time.

Consider, if you will, the charms of this season of “The Amazing Race,” which I am watching as I type this. The celebrated race around the world is this time inhabited by former contestants of fellow CBS reality rumpus “Big Brother” and their various loved ones. I don’t have a clue who any of these people are, and that’s why it’s delightful watching them roll each other into bowling pins and carry heavy stacks of cheese on the Dutch waterfront in silly costumes. I have no emotional commitment. It’s just pretty postcard towns and other people’s drama. I do want some cheese now, though.

Speaking of cheese, have you sampled this season’s “Golden Bachelor?” I was already rubbing my hands together like a Scooby Doo villain before the season started. New franchise star Mel Owens ran his mouth on a podcast about only being interested in women ages 45 to 60, even though he’s 66 — a literal senior citizen — and the entire premise of the show is about finding love in your golden years. Such a dumb thing to say! Sign me up! The premiere was just as ridiculous as promised, and 64-year-old Marylander Gerri got the first impression rose. I mean, I’m not convinced Mel is that much of a prize yet, but win your thing, lady!

Even “Survivor,” which I’ve loved for decades, is more exciting to me this year. I am a devotee of luxury hotels who has always watched the contestants with a smug detachment. You’re never catching me out there sleeping on the ground fighting strangers over rice. But this season, I found myself almost a little jealous for the opportunity to be on an island without my phone telling me every five seconds that some other fresh Hell is helling. Blissful.

Of course, I cannot sit in front of my television forever. There’s work to do, groceries to buy and a 10k to train for. We are in a very crucial time for democracy and basic rights, and I’m hoping to help in the battle. But stupid shows not only give me a break from all the bad stuff, but let me recharge during that break so I have more energy for the road ahead. We cannot exist on fight alone.

So give me stupid. Give me vapid. Bring on the spray tans and glitter, baby! I’ll put my brain back on when this episode is over.