This is short enough to be an aside, but it’s too important to relegate to the sidebar. Consider yourself warned:
Any of you who watches Kid Nation is Dead to Me.
No, I am not joking.
DEAD.
TO.
ME.
Published by reverendmother 1 year ago in culture
30 Responses to “important alert”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
OMG
Ok I don’t even know who Kid Nation is…and I don’t want to be dead to anyone or anyway. Please fill me in….G
I am still trying to figure out how these people didn’t get arrested for child abuse/neglect. I heard a piece on NPR talking about this, but alas….I got to carpool line before I could hear the end.
Are we at 8000 yet?
That is beyond bizarre.
Gail, click on the link. Or google it. I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned in Revelation as one of the signs of the apocalypse.
Sherry, we have indeed reached 8000! I will announce results after I figure out a suitable trinket.
That show sounds icky, and I have no interest.
I’m glad I get to live on. (^_^)
I don’t understand how they can do that. All I can figure is some part of it has to be fake, because they can’t really let 40 children fend for themselves without DSS taking over, right? right?
Beyond comprehension! Surely this is illegal.
I was dumb-struck just watching the promos! What kind of parent would let their child do that?! How utterly irresponsible. Perhaps we could instigate a boycott of CBS? Just a thought.
where and what or who is kid nation?
How could anyone permit their child to do this? I gave up TV some years back (am I the only one in the US who hasn’t ever seen an episode of Survivor or American Idol??) for various reasons, so I really didn’t see this coming. Ugh…
Thank you for informing me about this. I’d never heard of that dreadful program, as I avoid most tv, especially reality shows. I cannot believe this was allowed and encouraged! I echo–OMG!
Where are the child protection authorities? Shame, shame, on CBS.
how is this even possible? There had to be adults on set filming, right? Or like supervising at night? what if one of them gets sick or injured at night when cameras aren’t rolling?
I think some of this is fake or at least mildly staged.
I also think it’s despicable and disgusting and I second your sentiment.
Luckily, I don’t have TV.
Please, God, don’t let it be on at the gym when I go there…I don’t think I could handle it without making a scene.
They are posting casting calls for “Kid Nation 2″ on the CBS website if you can believe it.
What kind of parents would allow their children to participate? Unbelievable!
We’ve already banned it in our house.
There’s a new article in the NYT this morning about it. Apparently one of the clauses in the waiver parents and kids signed said that CBS did not have to verify qualifications or licensing for medical personnel, including in case of emergency surgery.
Why would a parent sign that?
Please tell me there’s a better reason than money. I can’t believe someone would send their child off for 6 weeks with no contact allowed, with a waiver like that, for the mere chance of them coming home with a few thousand dollars. I mean, really.
If there is any doubt that we have become the modern Roman Empire…I hope this clears it up for everyone…
The Christians (the vulnerable ones who are expendable) have been thrown to the lions…and we all gather in the safe, private coliseums of our “family” rooms to watch.
Sick…sick…sick.
Teri, one mother has been interviewed saying her daughter had a blast: it was like camp, she said.
Yeah, it sounds JUST like camp.
Only during the school year.
And with no guides or counselors.
Where kids have no privacy except in the bathroom.
And only then when “in the process of showering, bathing, urinating, or defecating.” (I suppose, since it’s not lined out in the contract, that kids can be filmed masturbating.)
And where four kids accidentally drank bleach, which was left in an unmarked soda bottle.
I’ve also heard the outcome of the series is rather inspiring—the kids come up with their own little society. To which I say, the fact that these kids rose to the challenges presented to them doesn’t change the fact that it’s a dreadfully distasteful premise.
A friend suggested that the kid part is actually just a ruse, that the real reality show is “Shitty Parents Who Will Pimp Their Kids for Five Grand.”
Which I would TOTALLY watch.
Boycott the advertisers. McDonald’s is the one on the CBS website.
The story I heard, a TV critic person was saying, “well, what do you expect? This is Hollywood, they don’t care about the kids, they care about making money. That’s why the network had the parents sign waivers.”
I need to go lie down.
I read about the bleach incident. How exactly does bleach get into a soda bottle? And what kid, smelling it, would then drink it? I have this horrible vision of that being part of “the show” which, of course, makes me want to puke.
Isn’t there some kind of legal issue with basically renting out your kid for 6 weeks in the middle of the school year to thoroughly negligent people? Again I say, why would you sign that waiver for the possibility of a few thousand dollars? I think I’d be prosecuting the parents as much as CBS. Our materialist society disgusts me.
That’s all for tonight…stories like this make me all agitated and unable to sleep, and then I say dumb things in church. It happened last week after I read about Israel deporting refugees from Darfur. I don’t think I can take much more of this world or the people in it.
anyone wanna come join my cloistered community in northern Italy where there will be ministry enough for all but also amazing food and good friends always available? And also clean air? No technology allowed, perhaps? at least, no TV….
I’m wondering what the parents did about school. They would have had to have claimed they were home-schooling in order to take kids out for that long.
I can see why kids would have found it a really, really cool idea. Heck, it’s “build your own fort” on steroids. But I really don’t get why the grown-ups weren’t saying, “uh. no. come inside and practice your piano. we’ll build a fort tomorrow.”
As to the bleach thing. People often put bleach in smaller bottles, because the large ones splash very easily. But they usually mark them. And don’t leave them sitting around on TV sets. And kids don’t necc. know what bleach smells like. Which is why we don’t leave it sitting around. unmarked. on TV sets. where there are no adults.
I guess I would never make it as a reality TV producer or cameraperson, because there is no way I could watch a child drink a sip of bleach, then watch three others do it, and not jump up and say, “Stop, that’s bad for you.”
This makes me so sick and so mad. I agree with all of you … and yes, Teri … I want to join you. I’m with PresbyGal … boycotting CBS… and all the sponsors of this show! (tried to send email, but it CBS wouldn’t take it … got some kind of “full” message!)
Part of my spiritual discipline is avoiding all forms of so-called “reality programing”. This is probably the scuzziest most disgusting example, but I can’t think of any that are significantly or qualitatively better. So, no risk of being virtually excommunicated here.
they may not know what bleach smells like, but it doesn’t smell good. It smells chemical-y. You know?
RM, I agree–what adult sees something like that happen and doesn’t do anything about it?
I watched the preview and they make it sound innocuous and even fun and kind of cool. I think it would make a great summer camp, actually. But at summer camp there are loads of adults (or at least college kids) around to keep everyone safe and to mark bleach bottles and whatnot.
I also read all the comments on one of the NYT articles where people talk about why they would or would not send their kids to this kind of program. After reading hundreds of comments, I see why the CBS box is full. However, the people in favor were all saying things like “this is like summer camp, but summer camp is really expensive and here they were paying you!” and “that’s a standard waiver for any activity these days.” to the first I say: shame on you! and to the second I say: no it isn’t. Most waivers say that you give permission for your child to be treated by the qualified and licensed medical professional chosen by the leaders or organization if you can’t be reached. This one signed away the child’s rights to qualified and licensed medical care and claimed it was not the responsibility of CBS to determine the qualifications of medical personnel. That is most definitely child abuse.
Okay, I’m going to eat dinner now and try to stop thinking about this again. It didn’t work last time…maybe a root beer float dessert will help…
I cannot believe that this program was even created, never mind that it will air on public television. The whole concept is simply horrifying.
I hope they have some good family counseling set up for these children adn their parents.
I haven’t read it, and I’m not going to.
Is there any way that truency can go after all those horrible parents for keeping their kids out of school for 6 weeks? There has to be some sort of way to let these parents know that what they did was irresponsible and not worth risking the health and safety of their kids-even for $5000!
Wow. This makes me ill. I saw a glimpse of this discussion on CNN yesterday, but didn’t understand that it was a TV SHOW. Ugh.