My bad idea is better than your bad idea

I realize I tend to post things that bother me a bit more often than I post positive things. Which kind of amuses me, as there's so much I enjoy in life that I could write about. even when i do post on positive things, like being kinder than necessary, it's with an inherent suppostion that people are not doing enough of this already. oops. :) Perhaps I'll see what I can do about posting more positive things. But not now. Now I have some more complaining to do ...

Who thought that a show called 'My dad is better than your dad' was a good idea? I recognize that kids have influences other than tv, but do we really need a tv show inculcating young folks with the idea that one person is 'better' than another based on his ability to complete physical tasks or answer trivia questions? is that kind of familial patriotism (i straight up stole that phrase from c.s. lewis) healthy, when it's in the context of putting down another family? when it embarrasses the likely 'leader' of another family?

beyond that, it just grates on my need for harmony, i guess. the idea of these dads feeling like they've let their kids down as they get eliminated b/c they couldn't lift as much or didn't know as much on a certain topic ... it just makes me uncomfortable,and makes me feel awful for the ones who lose straight away. i know it's all a game and it's all for ratings, but even by titling the show they way they have, they're helping further the notion that achievement determines worth--even if only by giving that kind of notion a spot in a in kid's mind. even if the producers explain to kids that the show doesn't mean anything, they've still introduced yet again the notion kids pick up from so many other sources--that it's external manifestations that determine worth, not internal attributes. and by this re-introduction, they can inadvertently be lending it credence in the sponge that is a kid's brain.

humor my aside here ...
in psychology, there's a term for this inadvertent influence ... though i can't think of it now ... when mere re-introduction of a concept that already has a place in a person's schemas helps to bolster that idea--even when it's being presented in a negative light. like when a mom one day tells her young daughter how bad ice cream is for her, and even though it's being presented as something negative, the daughter then wants some ice cream. or, in another vein, take racism--some believe that if we just stopped talking about it so much, kids would not even realize that racism is an option to them; keep bringing it into their awareness, however, and you take the risk that they'll adopt it. (i'm personally not suggesting we shouldn't talk about it, btw.) so, in the tv show's case, let's say they actually do tell the kids that physical strength does NOT make one dad better than the other; even still, just the mention of that--just the mere title and game concept themselves--will re-introduce into the kids' consciousness the fact that there IS a concept out there by which strength makes one dad better than the other. and the producers run the risk of inadvertently reinforcing that idea in their contestants and viewers.

oh my, i didn't intend to write this much. i began when the show started, and it's over now. talk about inadvertent ... i watched the whole thing. i actually had a couple more topics to complain about in this post, but i think i've said quite enough. :)

Good things to remember

There are good things to remember, and I think this is one of them. It was at the bottom of a forward I got this morning.

'Be kinder than necessary, because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

ouch!

a little bit ago i was in a meeting with two coworkers. one of them said something about 'two-thirty,' and as i pictured my hand coming up to my jaw and recited the joke in my head (i'm a little too new to be foisting jokes on people here ... yet) i realized my teeth really did hurt. i'd just gotten back from the dentist. the one time of the year that i can put sincere emotion and genuine inflection into the delivery of that joke, and it's wasted because the opportunity reveals itself in front of strangers. go figure.

however, i think i'm going to get braces again. so i'll soon have monthly opportunities to grab my jaw in genuine pain.