Mentally ill children being used for entertainment on TV.

[Czar Adam]

There's this show on A&E called 'Psychic Kids'. Each week, they find a bunch of mentally ill children who are seeing people who aren't there. These kids aren't playing around, sometimes they're terrified and worried about their future. They have some guy (an older fellow) come in as an expert in the paranormal, and he tells the kids to believe that their hallucinations are real, and that they should value their condition. Here's a clip:
http://www.aetv.com/psychic-kids/video/index.jsp

I saw one episode where a girl who looked like she was about 16 was crying because she didn't want to be different from the other kids anymore, while the host sat next to her telling her that she had a gift. Sometimes these children are very small, and the parents don't seem to know any better.

This show uses children who are very mentally ill as props to entertain the viewer at home by presenting a story about how there are "special kids" running around who have psychic powers, and in the process it distances them from the help they need to live a more stable, safe and comfortable life.

I don't know what more to say about this. The wrongness of it all is so undisguisable.
Have any of you ever heard about this? How well known is this?

 

[DepricatedZero]

Re: Mentally ill children being used for entertainment on TV

I am shocked - Shocked! - that the media would act this way.

 

[Case]

Re: Mentally ill children being used for entertainment on TV

Hm, from what I've seen on Youtube it's mostly teens who want to be 'speshul' (gimme a break, otherwise you wouldn't go on TV), sometimes complemented by their parents who want them to be speshul - and people who try to make a buck by attempting to make this 'entertaining' (whom it might entertain, I haven't got the slightest idea).
Let's hear it for TV credibility.

As for the younger children... if they do have these perceptions, and they suffer from it, they should be able to receive treatment.
If they do, and they don't have any problems with it - the parents should still make the wise choice and not let them go on TV.
If they don't have them but pretend... same as above. They shouldn't go on TV.

Hm. I don't like TV for some reason.

 

[Demojen]

Re: Mentally ill children being used for entertainment on TV

Reality TV is one of the reasons I stopped watching TV. It is disgusting that the entertainment industry has become so elastic as to, rather then become more creative, go in the opposite direction and become less creative, directly exploiting their viewers for ratings rather then contributing something worth watching for its own merit.
That isn't all TV, but it has been enough to dissuade me almost entirely.

I never understood why people liked to watch "Survivor" or any variant of that show. "The Amazing Race" or "American Gladiator" included, but I may be beginning to understand. America is becoming inundated by the entertainment industry and in being subdued by the boob tube, is becoming uninterested in rocking the boat. This has lead to greater restrictions on freedom in our culture and has removed a great deal of interest in the more complicated systems that govern it.

Meanwhile government stands on politics and holds an almost exclusive grip on the people who don't know any better so that when election time comes around, they don't even have to make educated speeches that talk about their position on the affairs that matter to the people who aren't addicted to TV. They can slide by on speeches that slander their opposition, instead and give an audience to the intelligent people when the media isn't able to give it due coverage.

So, if you ever run for office just remember on the campaign trail you really only have to answer one thing about your voters. "Do you like your voters shaken or stirred?"

 

[Nemesiah]

Re: Mentally ill children being used for entertainment on TV

Throw out your TV, it is not your friend.