Sick to my Stomach........................

..........................no, it's not the flu. I am just sick about the way a certain TLC Reality Show family is being ravaged, dissected, discussed, attacked and exposed in the media. I won't even say their names but it's not necessary because I'm sure EVERYONE who watches a TV in the USA knows who I'm talking about. The season premiere last week had 10 million viewers. I will admit I watched a portion of it but became uncomfortable when the interviews with the couple discussed things that should be private and turned it off. I realize that this couple has willingly participated in the show and all the media attention around it and it's possible that the family would be falling apart even if it weren't shown on TV. The couple themselves are partially to blame for the media circus around their family. However, I hate the media for exposing this family. It's sick what TV executives have allowed to continue with this show. But there is another culprit in this mess, if we the American people weren't watching there would be no public carnage of a family. The paparazzi only follows them because we, the American TV public, WANT THEM TO!!!!!!

I do not know this couple personally and I have NO IDEA what is going on in their lives. And out of decency, privacy and my love for the Institution of Marriage I am not going to discuss anything I've "heard" about them in the media here. That would be contributing to shameful gossip and I refuse to participate. I refuse to discuss even what they themselves have said because 1) it would be gossip and 2) with skillful editing and a producer's "spin" of the interviews nobody but the couple and those close to them have any idea what is really going on. I am going to discuss the modern phenomenon of "Reality TV" that has chewed this family up and spit them out...............no, swallowed them and vomited them up.

I was a HUGE fan of the first "Survivor". I thought it was a fascinating study of Group Dynamics and I was glued to my TV for every episode. As the season went on however, I became more and more perplexed that the person who I was "sure" was going to be voted off the island, was not and the "perfect, popular angel" of that episode was given the boot. I feel stupid now, not to have put it together until I watched interviews of the cast after the season ended. THEY EDITED THE SHOW, DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The producers couldn't control what the cast members would do or say but they could put a spin on each episode by showing certain characters doing/saying negative things and others only the positive so the ending would be a surprise and talked about at length by the public for days later. Also ensuring a returning audience for the next episode. How else can one explain how the cast member who seemed to be the most evil, hated member won? Do you think he was really that clever? Or is it possible the producers just edited the show so we thought he was hated by the entire cast? With the editing the show was far from "real" and might has well have been scripted. I haven't watched an episode of Survivor since. It's not a fascinating exploration of Group Dynamics, what we see on TV is not real. It's a TV show, mindless entertainment and nothing more.

Reality TV is a genre I would be thrilled to see disappear from our airwaves. It was bad enough when MTV put eight 20-somethings in a house together and put them on display for the world to see. We saw them spout off their opinions, get drunk, party, sleep together, cry, cry a lot, yell and yell a lot. I don't think it was a sound, moral idea for a show but it did/does get ratings. I can't say for certain but I'm not sure too many of these kids lives were permanently damaged by their stints on the show. While I don't think it was wise for these people to put there "real" selves on TV for a mass audience to watch and scrutinize, they are young and young people make crazy mistakes. Young adults are also resilient. They get older, reason through what they did as a young adult, process it and usually move on. Case and point, I have a beautiful tattoo on my arm down by my elbow that I put "on display" for all to see and scrutinize when I was 22. The tattoo was not a mistake but the location was and it's permanent. However, I have processed it, learned from it and moved on. I can live with it, but what if I had decided to put a tattoo on one of my children when they were born? That would be a different story...........

You see where I'm going with this. When TV executives/producers decide to put children and families on display in a "Reality TV Show" there is always a chance that some ugly stuff could be filmed. Actually, there's more than a chance and if something ugly comes up the cameras should be turned off! Period. It is completely wrong to subject children to having their family's dirty laundry put out for all the world to see. I struggle to think of how you would control that kind of damage in a child's life. Just the problems themselves in a family alone take their toll on children, why add publicity of the problems to it? Why add public discussion to a family's private struggles? WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS WOULD WANT THAT? WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS WOULD WANT THAT FOR THEIR KIDS?

My very strong opinion is that the Reality Show, unnamed here but obvious, should be canceled. First and foremost in the interest of protecting those precious children. But also to protect the sanctity and privacy of a marriage. A marriage whose partners claim to be in trouble. Marital problems should be dealt with privately and with dignity. Shame on TLC for having such disregard for Family and Marriage. Shame on them for benefiting from people's personal pain, especially innocent children's pain. What disgusting part of a human being would produce it and profit off of that? TLC, are you listening???????

I'm not saying that imperfections in the Institution of Family should be swept under the carpet and we should all turn a blind eye to the fact that marriage is hard and that many, many families have tremendous problems. What I'm saying is that it's a crime to broadcast a specific family's problems. No good can come of this. Join me in protecting children, boycott Reality TV with children in it!

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." Mark 9:42