| | Jeffrey, you've found a wonderul example of altruism; I've noticed the show, too.
I watch TV only on sundays, so I've managed to catch the show. If anyone is unfamiliar with the premise, ABC picks one lucky family to have their homes "madeover" by a special crew of designers; the catch is that they must finish in a mere 7 days.
Now, my mother lives in a really squalid sort of house; it's all run-down, sometimes cluttered; just generally old and in need of repair. She sees this makeover show and decides that it is her savior of sorts. She is fixated on the hope that ABC will pick her house out of the many for the show.
Now I need to describe my mom. She is quite possibly the worst human being I've ever met. I attribute my keen ken to growing up around her; when I was faced with a contradiction (which was, essentially, her) I dissolved it; I excercised my reason. Anyways, fast-forward to today: she doesn't keep jobs, leeches off those around her, and worst of all, doesn't try to help herself. She simply wanders around in circles of self-pity and delusion, and is simply a perfect parasite. dramatics aside, now...
In relation to the makeover show: she is fixated. She prays about it, she obsesses over the application she's going to send in soon, she is convinced that God will help her, because she can't. I can guess that this is the mindset of a large portion of the viewers of this show, and consequently, the people that send in applications.
Usually, those that raise themselves up from bad conditions growing up are exceptionally stong people to begin with. Primarily, they recognize that the source of their plight is external, and that the only way through which they can change things is to exercise their own ability; so, they flex their mental and spiritual muscles and do something great.
This show bases itself on the premise that people are too weak to help themselves when they are in such a parlous state, so intervention is obviously necessary. And this is untrue. People aren't given strenthening glimpses at their dreams when they are given new, large houses.
Somehow, if this show's premise does apply to some people, then that person's dreams, and the means by which they wish to attain them, are insubstantial and flat. If the ability of a corporation to build someone a new house and broadcast their magnanimity gives inspiration, then they have a flawed sense of self and self-expectation. Their dreams will never be thier own; they will get no satisfaction from attainment, only relief at having lived up to others' expectations.
So no, the people that send in applications for this show are already doomed. I don't think there's much that prevents anyone from achieving anything, and a new house is certainly not in the realm of facilitating factors. Hoping for one as a final gateway to freedom is spurious and wrong.
In one episode, a family with a daughter who was literally allergic to sunlight won the makeover. Near the end, she said that she was free, when they had built a house with a covered area so she could spend time outside. She even said that she was 'free now.' Agh, just another example of the horrid and despicable; it saddens me that this is seen as okay.
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