Dancing with the Stars v. NPR

I don’t watch very much TV.  However, one of my biggest guilty pleasures is Dancing With the Stars on Monday nights.   Dan shakes his head in wonder at his  normally TV-averse wife settling in with glee for such a mindlessly cheesy display.

Monday night, two aspects of my own world unexpectedly collided, when one of the (quasi) stars,  Alexa PenaVega, was dancing to a song “Make It Rain”; which is about dealing with inner demons.  She shared her own 6 year struggle with bulemia that started when a director called her fat when she was a child actor.   Alexa proceeded to perform an astonishing contemporary routine exemplifying the struggle to break free from her eating disorder.

Alexa was incredibly brave to discuss her eating disorder in front of such a large audience, and in such a positive and truly beautiful way.  Unfortunately, Alexa’s perfect score and standing ovation for her dance didn’t prevent her from being voted off the dance floor later that night–a vote that was based on her performance from the prior week.  While I was sad to see her go, I was thrilled that she set such a positive example for others that may be watching and silently struggling, thinking they are alone in their pain.   What a great example of ED advocacy in the mainstream media.

A few days later I was listening to NPR – I love NPR, and I do NOT consider that a guilty pleasure. Most of the time, I find their reporting fair, intelligent and interesting… at least I did until Wednesday when they aired a report on the rising incidence of obesity in America.  Even NPR didn’t challenge the notion that skinny=healthy; even NPR didn’t cite any actual science around the notion (which many studies have refuted)  that heavier adults have poorer health that their skinny counterparts;   even NPR got caught up the blame game for people who struggle with their weight;  even NPR didn’t spend a single second of air time addressing the food industry’s culpability in saturating our collective diets with added sugars in most of the foods we buy.  Even NPR didn’t point out that the single accepted measure (BMI) for obesity is horribly flawed,  Even NPR bought into one of the single biggest lies of our culture, which is that skinny people are disciplined, good and healthy and heavy people have no self control and are lazy.   Can you tell that it pissed me off?

This week,  I have greater respect for Dancing With the Stars and less Respect for NPR.   I can now fool myself into thinking I am watching DWTS for its socially redeeming features;  versus as a mindless escape.  Nah – I don’t think I can sell that one!

 

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