The comments on my posting about the Wife Swap show got me thinking a little more about the whole thing, and I realize it could be a negative experience, in any number of ways.
First, television’s fickleness. I had forgotten just how maddening television can be, till Todd’s recollection about many days of filming resulting in 30 seconds of coverage brought me back to my own experiences, with film crews cancelling out at the last minute or broadcasting segments at 7 a.m. Sundays instead of prime time.
But of greater concern is how a "swap" would really play on television. Imagine the health-conscious mom taking over the fast-food family. I can almost hear the chatter:
"Why can’t we have fried chicken?"
"Why don’t you have any Coke in the frig…so, what’s wrong with sugar?"
"That food is weird looking…and it smells awful."
The television producers would love it, but the effect would be to portray the healthy mom as weird, and the fast-food family as normal. And when you think about it, few people become health conscious via the shock-treatment approach this show would be using. It’s a gradual thing, as people try more healthful foods, and give up the unhealthy stuff over a period of months and years.
It could be a freak show, as Katherine Czapp so aptly puts it. Education is great, but who wants to join a carnival?
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