Column: ‘Step right up for today’s sideshows’
August 5th, 2009
Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Luaine Lee compares reality television to a P.T. Barnum sideshow of “freaks and geeks.” An excerpt:
Of course, when Barnum turned tiny Charles Sherwood Stratton into Tom Thumb, the most famous little person in the world, he had no idea that 21st-century America would follow his lead with The Little Couple and Little People, Big World.
… Barnum never had it so good.
(The Roloffs from “Little People, Big World,” TLC photo)
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August 5th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Luaine Lee certainly has ‘offensive’ down pat — too bad she does not realize she is exploiting the same groups as reality TV producers without allowing herself any insight into the human condition through the experiences portrayed by the real-life characters or their television audiences.
She also does not see a difference between being displayed without a voice or choice and taking advantage of an opportunity to educate and inform those who are capable of seeing a bit of themselves in the lives of other ordinary but extraordinary families.
She did not draw a parallel to a reality-tv version of the ‘dog-faced boy’ mentioned in her shallow and unoriginal commentary — but that little jab showed more than anything else that this is one ugly person beneath her skin.
There are so many talented and fascinating writers who have disabilities, why does Luaine Lee have a job in this economy when she so obviously lacks the empathy and self-awareness to present one thoughtful point in her piece? What a waste.