I was sitting on the couch minding my own business, snapping two lbs of string beans to be cooked and sautéed with garlic once I was done, watching my mindless Entertainment Tonight show to see what the beautiful people are up to these days. Instead of concentrating on red carpets and parties, they are focused on Paula Dean being filmed eating a cheeseburger and french fries. This rates as ground breaking news and for those of you who don’t know who Paula Dean is; she is the doyenne of buttery, sugary and highly caloric laden foods, since after it was discovered that she had been diagnosed a diabetic three years ago, she never changed her way of cooking or told her audience that she was a diabetic. Some would argue that she became a diabetic as a result of her diet and that perhaps as a popular food show host she has a small responsibility to her audience in sharing that her way of cooking and eating could have contributed to her diabetes. The point is that I am watching Entertainment Tonight while snapping my green beans, I am not in the mind-set for pop psychology and the philosophical arguments about how responsible a host is to their audience. Which brings me to the next segment, Dr.Phil and his 79 lb anorexic patient who at twenty years old is starving herself by eating 500 calories of solid food and supplementing her diet with beer that she purges afterwards. This story doesn’t belong on t.v, either on the Entertainment Tonight show or the Dr. Phil show. I am going to get up on my soapbox but as a recovering anorexic, this poor girl needs serious treatment with a professional specialized in eating disorders. I know that Dr. Phil does send his guests to other treatment centers but I came away from watching the 2 minutes of the poor girl as exploitative which is why I never watch Dr. Phil. I was watching Entertainment Tonight, I wasn’t watching Dr.Phil and it annoyed me that an eating disorder which is such a serious disease was being touted by Dr. Phil as entertainment. When you are in the throes of anorexia you are so enslaved by the disease that you cannot deal with life, anorexia is your life and your identity. This poor young girl didn’t need to be paraded out on t.v land, though her methods of maintaining her weight are unorthodox, drinking beer and smoking marijuana and then purging. I think that is what made me angry, it seemed that she only made it onto t.v because it would make good t.v, Anorexic Girl Starves Herself But Still Drinks a Six Pack and Smokes Weed; look at her! Film at eleven.
Psychology and advice on T.V watch at your own peril.
26 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted postaday, postaday2011
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