Purveyors of Shame

I was watching some Olymics coverage at lunch today, and during a commercial break I flipped around the stations. Landed on the Steve Wilkos show, which I had never seen before. It was shameful. Literally, full of shame. The point of the show was to get a lot of closeups of some guy who had been bad in his past and was lying about some stuff. So Steve had all the ammo--testimonials, police reports, pictures, videos--and he let this poor guy have it. There in front of a live audience.

It was a show literally built around producing shame. Making money on someone's shame. Reliving evil. Put a guy on stage, show how rotten he's been, prod him into a corner, and see what happens.

Never really watched one of these shows until today, and it only took about ten minutes for my stomach to turn sour. But it made me think...

What if someone built a show like this on glory. Bring some guy up on stage who feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. Who doesn't believe he's ever achieved anything of any consequence in his life. Who already thinks the least of himself.

And let him have it with both barrels. Bring up his third grade teacher. Bring up his youngest daughter. Bring up the boys' little league team. Bring up his sister. Speak of his good deeds, his kindness, his humility, his strength.

Bring out his glory. My, that would be voyeuristic, wouldn't it?

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Now that I think of it, that's why I love watching "Extreme Makeover Home Edition." Lots of times they do exactly what I'm suggesting Steve Wilkos ought to be doing. Tell the stories of the unsung heroes, or those who have suffered long, or who have been waiting for just one chance in a lifetime.

Unveilings are such fun, aren't they?