A Tidy Emotion. (DOAC 1)

ABC has a new program on.  It is called "Find My Family."  The idea of the show seems fine.  What is another reality TV show in our mirage of hundreds.  But this is different.  To me, this show portrays a growing trend; a trend of neat and tidy, hour long emotional outlets.

American society tells us that if you have problems, keep it to yourself.  This is one of the downsides of the the Thoreau and the "me first" ideology of America.  Thoreau taught us that we should get over our problems with others and try to internalize our emotions, goals, and failures.  The problem is that humans are pack animals.  We want to confide in others.

Enter the trashy, emotional reality TV show.  Its great because it gives us a way to release the emotions that we are too afraid to truly release.  Tears come to your eyes when the family reunites on a picturesque hilltop, a foggy background, the midday sun glistening over the lush grass (I'm not kidding, this is where they reunite).

The story of these family's reunions are not told because the director or writer or whoever does reality TV hopes you will feel sympathy, the goal is for the audience to feel empathy.  You may not have lost your brother when you were three, but the emotions so grandiosely portrayed between a separated brother and sister are accessible to you. You see their emotions and subconsciously channel it to your emotions.

This may seem fine, but I don't think so.  A society where our emotions need to run vicariously through others is not the sort that I want to live in.  It seems odd that we pay "professional therapists" hundreds of dollars an hour when we should be able to trust our family or friends with whatever we are saying.