Short
Arnold
Lara MShock Docs Obesity Feature
August 7th 2006 12:02
There is a program on Channel Nine called ‘Shock Docs’ which I suppose I now have to admit to watching. It airs at 9.30pm on Wednesday nights. I was horrified and transfixed by their recent hour long feature on obesity. It involved a parade of morbidly obese people who will literally die a premature death if they continue their eating habits.
It was absolutely horrible, made even worse by the fact that many of the interviewees were not fully clothed. A man the size of the bed he was confined to wore nothing but the nappy he was forced to wear since he could no longer use the toilet. He also had dark, swollen legs due to poor blood circulation. He was assigned a carer by the authorities, whom he presented with a letter that insisted that he should not, under any circumstances, feed him more than his new special diet allowed.
Though the program was clearly designed as a sensationalised cheap freak fest, moments like these invoked nothing but a deep pity for these wretches.
One woman, almost in tears, recalled a friendship severed because of the other’s drug habit which was affecting her relationships with family and friends. She now felt that her over eating was a form of addiction which was just as tormenting emotionally and just as damning socially. She liked to eat junk food in bed before she went to sleep at night and thought about it first thing in the morning. One poor creature even mortgaged his house to buy copious quantities of food.
Nevertheless this is not exactly what I would call credible journalism. The following week was a special on people with fetishes for amputees. “I love touching her stump” a man remarked in the promo.
http://www.sxc.hu
http://www.sxc.hu
Though the program was clearly designed as a sensationalised cheap freak fest, moments like these invoked nothing but a deep pity for these wretches.
Nevertheless this is not exactly what I would call credible journalism. The following week was a special on people with fetishes for amputees. “I love touching her stump” a man remarked in the promo.
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