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Up TV, which promotes “uplifting entertainment”, has produced a commercial this year with the intent of manipulating our emotions by watching children make selfless decisions over Christmas presents. The kids are first asked what they would like for Christmas and then asked what they think their might parents want. The narrator then presents the kids with both gifts, telling them “the catch is that you can either get a gift for yourself or you can pick a gift for your mom and dad. I need you to pick one.”
Titled The Other Christmas Gift, it is basically a sweetly benign idea until we learn at the start of the video that these children aren’t just any kiddies, they are poors.
83% of Metro Atlanta Boys & Girls Clubs kids come from low-income families, some of which aren’t able to afford even a Christmas tree.
This apparently has America’s heartstrings tugged to the hilt. Three people have already shared it with me and it’s been viewed over 3 million times on Facebook. However, my heartstrings weren’t pulled at all. In fact, my blood pressure was elevated by it. Dylan Matthews writing for Vox perfectly summed up why this left such a bad taste in my mouth.
In America, poor people are expected to prove their worth. Their right to not be poor is always contingent on their behaving like good, upright citizens, even when the middle class and rich get benefits with no strings attached. That's why the 1996 welfare reform law allowed states to drug-test applicants and recipients, but no one has ever been drug tested for claiming the mortgage interest deduction. It's why most states restrict access to food stamps and welfare for at least some people with felony drug convictions, even as rich people with drug records can get millions in charitable deductions.
The video is being presented as somehow uplifting, a grand testament to the power of selflessness. But preaching a gospel of self-sacrifice to those who already have next to nothing is cruel and perverse, and plays into centuries of demonization of poor people. While the children are expected to be selfless, the network’s gift is anything but.
It is slight consolation for me to know that Up gave both presents to each child in the end, even the ones who chose “selfishly.” But it’s a gesture that falls flat. It is reminiscent of making the homeless sing for their supper. It is charity with an agenda, one designed to gratify the giver, not the recipient. In this case, the benevolent kindness of Up TV. Playing an exploitative game with children for your own aggrandizement is neither “uplifting” nor “entertainment.”
Top Comments
From Tamar:
Raptavio wrote in response to ExpatGirl's on-target sarcastic referral to the Muslim accusations against Obama in which she purposely misspelled it as "Muslin."
Muslins worship Satin, you know.
A Comment flag tonight:
Flagged by belinda ridgewood, this comment by first-time Daily Kos commenter, guitaramp, very respectfully articulates the frustrations many of us in red states feel when we find ourselves lumped together (by Democrats and progressives, even!) with conservatives and some of their worst actions. Thought-provoking, thoughtful comment.
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