A reality too real for FOX

Before the villagers of Sarendhi, India, had awakened on March 6, two lovers, Guddan and Bimla, secretly rendezvoused in a courtyard outside Bimla's home. According to tradition, an affair between two members of the same village isn't only taboo but an unforgivable transgression of the honor of each lover's families. Guddan, a Hindu man, and Bimla, a young Muslim woman, also violated customs because of their different religions.\nWhen three of Bimla's brothers awoke to the sound of a rocking wooden cot, they lashed their sister and her lover with an iron rod and sticks until both were mutilated and dead. Although all three are now imprisoned, they said the murders were justification for the sake of defending their family honor. Under Indian law, witnessing their unmarried sister having intercourse with a man could be rendered as "sudden and grave provocation," a defense to the two homicides.\nSixteen-year-old Bimla was already promised to a man from another village she didn't want to marry. In a society that still embraces arranged marriages, even her father wouldn't acknowledge his daughter's dissatisfaction with her proposed future husband.\n"In the village, no one asks the girl," he said.\nBimla's father blamed his daughter's unorthodox behavior as a direct result of American romantic ideas. \n"Television," he said, "is imposing Western culture on our society."\nHere is the irony.\nOn the evenings of March 5 and 7, one day prior and one day following the murders of Bimla and Guddan, FOX televised a two-episode debut of its reality program "Married By America."\nThe premise of the show is summarized on its Web site (www.fox.com/mba/main.htm). "Marriage is a sacred union ... between two people who have grown together over time ..." floats across the screen in calligraphy, then fades. \nThe following screen flashes, "FOX says #@*% that! You match.You vote.They marry," while a deranged guitar version of the wedding march blares. \nFive single Americans, Matt Arden, Billie Jeanne Houle, Jennifer Jaynes, Jill Marie Nicoline and Stephen Savona, participate in the series, relinquishing their rights both to choose their own spouses and to see them prior to engagement. FOX viewers were afforded the opportunity to vote for the fiancé of their choice for the singles. Now that the matches are established, each couple competes to prove to America they will be the most successful marriage. \nUnsuccessful couples will get voted off, and the last remaining couple will be rewarded with an all-expense paid wedding ceremony, a home and a cash prize.\nWhile some inhibited countries lust for America's societal freedom to lust, America is being entertained by the manipulation of that freedom as if it were a frivolous novelty. Did this country get so bored -- so spoiled with its inherited liberties to be able to love freely or to live without having to marry at all -- it was willing to risk them just for fun? There couldn't be a more stinging slap in the face to people like Guddan and Bimla who desperately yearn to live in a modern society. \nReality television just isn't suspenseful enough to its audience in its former state, and FOX recognized this. What imminent danger is there in eating a few cockroaches? Where's the sacrifice in having your parents choose one of four gorgeous contestants to accompany you on a trip to Hawaii? When reality shows in America aren't real enough to catch our interest anymore, perhaps the only way for the networks to up the ante is to start reproducing reality in third world countries.