Catholic Ragemonkey

Ragemonkey Red Alert: More like 20/200

via email from Penney and double checked against The Mighty Barrister

In an effort to prove that the initials of the American Broadcasting Company actually stand for "Anything But Catholic," 20/20 is featuring the first ever reality show segment. The prize? Your own baby. Yes, you read that right. 20/20 is inviting 5, presumably infertile, couples to compete to win the right to adopt a 16 year old's child. This is so freaking foul I can scarcely comment on it. It is apparent that this is a blatant rating push. It is timed for the beginning of May Sweeps, and May Sweeps are very important in the media industry as it determines how much the network can charge to advertise in that space.

The creepy factor shoots up when one reflects that Barbara herself is an adoptive mother. The creepy factor rises even higher when one recalls that the parent company of ABC is ... DISNEY! This is how they say, "We love kids." We love kids when their parents buy our junk. We love kids when they boost our ratings. We love kids...

What this boils down to is this. Children, and no person really, can ever be treated merely as a means to an end. When I listen to certain people talk about having children, I swear it sounds like a conversation at a local self-help shop or they are picking up an accessory for the car. The reason for having children is because existence is a good thing. We are very pro-existence here at CRM. Taking it into the religious sphere, the parents become co-creators with God and assist in continuing the act of creation. But not at ABC. At ABC, kids are the key to upping your overall revenues.

This also demonstrates to me why abortion must be stopped. Once you de-humanize the embryonic person, it is a short step to de-humanizing a little person. And like the Breck commercial used to say, you de-humanize two people, and they de-humanize two people, and so on and so on. Be prepared for competitive genetic information swapping (nice euphemism, huh?) and Death Sentence Live! To think, I thought things like "Logan's Run" and "The Running Man" were the fevered imaginings of Luddite sci-fi writers.

On a lighter note, we should be glad this idea didn't crop up over at CBS, otherwise it might have been Bob Barker telling the couples to "come on down." And you can guaranteed that Bob would have praised the couples for being spayed and neutered themselves.

We need to start a boycott of all the advertisers featured during the broadcast of 20/20 just to the producers and others know how awful this stunt really is. Here is what I would suggest. I hate to suggest that we actually watch this tripe, but this is only way to get the list of advertisers. Then when you have the list, you call or write the LOCAL affiliate with the comments. Also, make sure to write any local companies who advertise during that time as well. Why the local affiliate? Because they have a more direct line to the higher ups. If enough affiliates call in, I suspect that the message will ring more loudly. Think of it as a gentle form of correction but speaking the language of Mammon that they know so well.

If you don't find this practice at ABC reprehensible, then you need to get your vision checked. It sounds like you are working from the "20/200" set of glasses.

P.S. Before anyone says it, I am glad that the young lady didn't have an abortion, choosing to place the child up for adoption. I am dismayed that she let her child be exploited by Barbara Walters