I was watching this show called "Wife Swap" last night--did anyone happen to see it. In this episode, they switched the "wife" of a conservative Texas, republican, Christian, millionaire, interracial family with the "wife" (in this case the one who was deemed more "submissive" in the relationship) of a lesbian couple that also has a child.
The husband from the Christian couple tolerated the situation and the kids were amazingly open to the experience and willing to learn about someone different, but the christian wife was the epitome of closed-minded hatefulness, very painful to watch because I know people like her... while watching her self-righteous rants I alternated between anger and pity.
The hatred, ignorance and intolerance spewing out of this so-called Christian woman, especially in her conversation with the lesbian wife at the end of the show, was sickening. The lesbian wife while being dismissed as deviant and immoral and unworthy of respect, managed, through tears, to give an impassioned and inspiring statement about her family and her values.
Check out other views of this episode:
Hey My New Mommy is a Bigot! and
Wife Will Leave Viewers Feeling Cheated
Archive of Articles About the Show
3 comments:
I've never seen "Wife Swap," having pridefully decided it was the place to finally draw the line on trash TV beneath which I would not sink (this, mind you, from a man whose favorite show of all time is "Married With Children", and who insists that Pamela Anderson's "VIP" was brilliant satire). It looks like I made a serious error. I hope they'll show this episode again on reruns.
I saw this and had a similar reaction to you, sans the pity. To be honest it made me both furious and sick to my stomach at the same time. When the woman went on her rant about how the lesbian couple was "depraved" and di not "constitute a family unit" I about lost it. The worst part though was at the very end when the announcer chymed in with something along the lines of "you will be surprised to find out whether this Republican family has learned anything" then it showed the family sitting around their table hands locked, individual bibles splayed out in front of each one and the mother leading a prayer for the lesbian family. Man, just thinking about it is infuriating. Why did you have to remind me? LOL
Continental Op--its definitely worth a look ... of course it is artificial and designed for conflict--still it exposes some of the problems in our society...
Goose--I agree... sorry for the reminder, but it just had to be written about!
Harry--of course it is "shallow and foolish" but you know I write/read constantly for this monstrous dissertation project and its freaking freezing outside and the computer has been giving me a headache lately--so the boob tube is on (at the risk of sounding like a pyro, I usually play with the fire with it on in the background late at night--its my first fireplace). TV in itself is not bad--its passive consumption of its programs that is problematic--I scream, shout, laugh, draw, and write about it (as well as teach with/against it). I did go eight years without a TV and it was a very good time in my life--I would actually be happy with no TV at all (although I would watch DVD movies) but my wife likes it (we only have three channels--virtually the stone age)
Airplane--that answers your question--no cable in my household so nope haven't seen those shows--should I check them out?
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