American Greed and Obscenity at its Finest
I just caught a few moments of that "Bachelorette Wedding" on ABC that's running right now. FOUR FEKKING MILLION DOLLARS to do it up nice for the TV audience. FOUR MILLION!!
I only have one question: would it be so horrible / less worth watching if the wedding digs only allowed for two million to be spent, with the remainder going to the bride and groom's charities of choice?
Repulsive. This is the part of America I positively hate and am embarrassed by. How shameless can the media / people get when they don't see anything wrong with a scenario like this? How about a piddly two mil limit for the "fabu glamour wedding" and giving the rest to Doctors without Borders, the American Cancer Society or a host of other worthy causes that really *need* the money. You know, PEOPLE... who could use the money so they can have a chance at LIVING.
The Humane Society would even be better than what ABC has done.
Uncle....
I only have one question: would it be so horrible / less worth watching if the wedding digs only allowed for two million to be spent, with the remainder going to the bride and groom's charities of choice?
Repulsive. This is the part of America I positively hate and am embarrassed by. How shameless can the media / people get when they don't see anything wrong with a scenario like this? How about a piddly two mil limit for the "fabu glamour wedding" and giving the rest to Doctors without Borders, the American Cancer Society or a host of other worthy causes that really *need* the money. You know, PEOPLE... who could use the money so they can have a chance at LIVING.
The Humane Society would even be better than what ABC has done.
Uncle....
Comments
Originally posted by gyc
Yeah it's such a shame that they're spending all that money on caterers, waiters, people setting up/cleaning up after the wedding, the wedding dress makers, etc.
no money is exchanging hands. what'd you guys just fall off the turnip truck?
promotional exchanges.
i guarantee you that everything was given in exchange for just being highlighted in the show, some may have even paid abc for the privilege.
not that it isn't still a big freakin' waste none the less.
it's probably wrong of me to even talk about this though, as i don't even sponser a child.
this got pretty off-topic
Economically apologetic.
(20 minutes into the future...)
I think you guys are missing the point a little. Sure, there are wages being paid out of that 4 million, but those workers would still be getting the same wages every week (chances are) regardless of whether that wedding took place or not. Further, even if they were to somehow lose their job because the wedding didn't materialize (not likely), most of them would still not be in danger of dying tomorrow, I think we can agree.
Hence, you can still put on a glamorous wedding for 2 million, boost the services economy, and at the same time do something that's a helluva lot more constructive / useful with the remaining 2 mil by giving it to the charities that are saving people's lives around the globe.
I grant you that I'm a bit reactionary when it comes to judging the media hoes of this world, but this little stunt took the cake. And yes, you can of course extend the logic to obscenely rich athletes, actors and singers... but many of them *do* give a lot of money to charity (or their time) every year. Lot's of obscenely rich football players giving to the United Way, etc etc...
...this whole wedding show was simply an act of vanity. It was disgusting IMO, especially at this time of year.
Yet, marriage has been turned into a mockery on reality TV.
But, I guess its cool that the institution of marriage gets shat upon as long as they're heterosexual, right?
Originally posted by DMBand0026
Uggg. And people wonder why the divorce rate has climbed to 50% in the USA. It is because of crap like this. We no longer marry for love, rather, we marry because thats what they do on reality TV. No matter what anyone says, TV has a bigger effect on people than we think. I'm proud to limit my TV watching to half an hour a week, the Simpsons.
do you really think that's true?
Originally posted by progmac
i'm pretty well convinced that all these celeb-types, those with net worths equal to small countries, are all going straight to hell. i mean, with, say, the money of Britney Spears, you could practically feed half of an African country. Rather, she buys an $85,000 coat or something equally ridiculous.
it's probably wrong of me to even talk about this though, as i don't even sponser a child.
this got pretty off-topic
Amen! And who the hell needs an Apple computer anyway? When a cheap pc is nearly 1/4 the cost of an imac.....
Yah. That's almost the same. Really. It's close.
I suppose you're also one that curses every time you see someone driving an expensive sport car. How many poor starving children could have been fed with that money wasted? But you're just a poor sob.. and you have nothing to give. So why not make something of yourself and then you can lavish all your money on all those things you deem as more worthy.
Here's the thing: computers and cars and stereos and great big houses all have a purpose above and beyond any social status that may come with them. You can learn and communicate and get organized with computers. You can go from point A to B to C with a car. You can expand your cultural horizons by listening to music on your stereo. You can stay warm and safe in your great big house.
Now tell me, how will this four million dollar wedding have enhanced the day to day lives of the participants, in ways that say a 1 or 2 million dollar televised wedding wouldn't have? Or even a HALF million dollar wedding.
You don't have a leg to stand on here. If you want to say that you thought the wedding was cool / neat-o / beautiful / etc, fine. But don't try to say that this whole production has some on-going intrinsic value beyond the actual bond created between the husband and wife (and their families).
As for you assuming that this is about me "not having made something of myself" and just being jealous about the money... get a clue. First of all, in my mind "making something of yourself" is not directly correlated to how much money you are worth (apparently you feel differently). Second, if I had 4 million dollars to spend in a day, I'm adult enough and humanitarian enough that I certainly wouldn't spend more than half of it on myself and even then you can bet your ass it wouldn't be on a "gala wedding". You presumptuous pansy....
How much does an episode of "Friends" cost to produce? At least here two very lucky people got to have a really nice wedding..
In any case, the real question then is, what percentage of the actors' and producers' salaries go to true needs like a home for their families or charity or transportation, vs. how much is just spent on vanity items.
All I'm saying is, they could've made the event a much more powerful thing by spending half that money on the charities of the bride and grooms' choice... but this was all about ABC and their ratings during the holidays and that's it. That's what was repulsive about it. They could've had things every bit as beautiful (maybe just not quite so many people invited) and memorable for the couple, and they could've wowed the audience on TV... AND they could've done a lot of people a LOT of good... and gotten some good PR in the process. Think about what Doctors without Borders or the Cancer Society could do with a million dollars.
But no... not the American Broadcasting Company. Philanthropy is not in their vocabulary this holiday season.