14 February 2006

CBC Promotes Infidelity on Valentine's Day

I'm sitting here watching The National right now, and I simply cannot believe what I'm seeing. They're running a story on infidelity, entitled "A Passion for More." The main star is an anonymous woman who is having an extramarital affair. She's been married six years, has children, describes herself as "happy" with her marriage, yet she's screwing someone who is not her husband. She describes herself as "comfortable" with what she's doing, yet doesn't have the guts and is obviously ashamed of herself sufficiently to request that CBC not reveal her identity and give her the blackened-figure treatment. As is the case with so many violations of marriage and fidelity, she is cheating "only for the sex;" she's not otherwise attached to the person with whom she is cheating, who by the way also has kids and a wife of his own. She has three cell-phones, one of which is dedicated exclusively to her lover so that they don't get caught. She listed a series of concerns about what she is doing; the last one mentioned, and thus the least important one on the priority food chain, is getting caught. The idea of her children doesn't enter the picture, the feelings it would cause her husband don't enter the picture, it is all about her. A completely selfish and hypocritical individual, whose actions threaten to ruin the lives of the very people that she is supposed to love the most, yet she is not portrayed in a negative light. No, this woman doesn't apparently deserve our opprobrium, nor our pity; she is 21st century woman, bold and empowered. She's portrayed as being part of an emerging cultural norm; somehow, thanks to the idea propagated by shows such as Desperate Housewives and yes, magazines such as Playboy, this is now an acceptable practice. Rhetorical question posed by Tasha to the television: "how do you sleep at night?" Indeed. When a person takes their wedding vows, "to the exclusion of all others" is a pretty central phrase. She has no respect for her marriage, the man she married, her children, her family, and, assuming she was married in a church, her faith. I will state, as I often find myself compelled to do, that I am not a particularly religious man, but I'm thinking that if a person makes a vow before God, it's probably not a good idea to break it.
The sub-story is the rise of the Internet dating service. There's a scumbag who promotes his site as something "extra" for people who are just looking for a little more than what their relationship can provide. He describes monogamy as a failed institution, and portrays infidelity, both male and female, to be something which is empowering and beneficial for our society. He has turned his little escort service into a segment of a $10M a year industry. That is despicable. Profiting from ruining relationships and promoting sexual promiscuity is not only irresponsible, but it is immoral. What this man is doing is not beneficial for society, it is beneficial only for his pocket book and for the selfish individuals who blatantly fail to realize the hypocrisy of their claims to love someone.
I cannot fully express how outraged I am the CBC would run a story like this on Valentine's Day. I have just enjoyed a truly wonderful day in my monogamous relationship, which leaves me completely fulfilled and with considerable inner peace, and this garbage is what my state-run broadcast network deems to see fit to air as newsworthy and deserving of our attention? I find it truly upsetting that promoting infidelity has moved beyond even the stage of tolerance and is now at a level of acceptance in our society. If we look at the recent Supreme Court decision on "swinging clubs," it can be argued that Canada is at a point of approving of such despicable practices. Let me be perfectly clear: I do not approve of promoting infidelity, I do not accept that is a practice that should be acceptable as a social norm, and I certainly would not tolerate infidelity being practiced within my relationship or by anybody in my family or circle of friends. On this, of all days, the day that is designed by Hallmark to make millions of dollars off of people who want to demonstrate their love and commitment to one another, why does the CBC see fit to run a featurette designed solely to tear down the best thing in our society?

No comments: