Hello, Out there! or how things echo

I hate "reality shows". And not for the obvious reasons (contrived, stupid and moronic, often times staged and altered). Not because they are blaring NON-reality based, but because so many people believe the "reality" that is shown on them. For example, last night on Wife Swap (or Swap Wives or whatever) (an aside--where is this reality based?), they had switched a lesbian couple's wife with a wife of a conservative "interacial" couple (note that the producers felt that this was important to point out, like "Hey, we are not racist, and let me show you how we are not racist!" Anywho...one can guess the obvious issues generated with this...and one would hope it would be dealt in, if not the most deft manner, at least in one that showed the pros and cons of each life style. But essentially for an hour you got the conservative wife blasting on the "life style" of the lesbian couple and essentially calling the woman a sexual predator. And the lesbian wife who was swapped sounded whiney and insignificant. It did not really show either side in any rational light whatsoever and did not explore the motivations of each side (okay, so this is not PBS). Basically, what really bothers me is that I know that the show was edited heavily and that there were two sides here at odds with each other in basic ways that would make for sensational viewing but not for "reality" per say. However, as the recent election showed, 51% of the population might not make such a conclusion. And so this show was basically preying on the fears of that 51% and not necessarily showing them anything conclusive to base a real understanding on.

An Addendum by Salon: Salon Wife Swap Article