The Mayans were wrong in their prediction that the world’s coming to an end in 2012. It all ended the other night when “The Moment of Truth” aired. This woman literally ends her marriage for the sake of prize money.
Here’s the point of the game: You sit down and you’re hooked up to a lie detector and as long as you answer questions truthfully you win money. With her husband sitting right there this woman answered truthfully that she’d cheated on her husband and that she’d thought she married the wrong guy. So she answers those two questions truthfully.
Guess what question messed her up and sent her home with nothing but lint in her pocket -“Do you consider yourself a good person?” Her parents were there and although they’d just suffered this national embarrasment they’re cheering her on and saying “You are a good person.”
So she says that despite her actions she considers herself a good person. Guess what? It comes up as a lie.
Here’s what we know -this woman was willing to tell the truth for money but couldn’t bring herself to tell herself the truth about herself. Follow?
This is sad. Earlier that morning I’d heard an interview with Valerie Bertinelli on a local radio show. She talked about cheating on her husband and other assorted details. The host asked what her son thought of this and she said that he knows she’s a good person and that we’re not defined by our actions.
When did this become an accepted thing to completely separate ourselves from our actions? Our culture makes it acceptable to completely believe that you’re a good person who simply does really bad things. Now maybe this is human nature but I feel like we’re embracing this kind of thought pretty eagerly.
Maybe because we feel like we’re good people we’re incapable of wrong doing. And we have everyone doing “what’s right for them” and living out “their own truths.” Doesn’t that simply mean in the end there is no right and there are no truths?
February 29, 2008 at 4:33 am
Rather than ponder the incredible moral dilemma of someone with the stature of Valerie Bertinelli, I suggest that we put the matter up to his retired Excellency, Thomas Gumbleton and the folks over at that National Catholic Reporter–moral relativity being the foundation of their thinking, and probably acting as well. These things usually go hand-in-hand.
February 29, 2008 at 5:04 am
The important thing to note is that even though she tried to convince herself that she is “a good person.”
At the end of the day she knew it was a lie, even though she couldn’t admit it. Very Telling.
February 29, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I must admit that I did watch this show on Monday, but how it works is that the contestant is hooked up to a lie detector and asked 50 questions some time before the show. On the show, they have to answer 21 questions correctly in order to win the top prize. So, every contestant has heard all of the questions before, they just don’t know what the lie detector indicated as to the truthfulness and they don’t know exactly which of the 50 questions will be asked on stage.
Repeatedly during Monday’s episode the host kept saying, “You sure you want to hear the next question? I don’t think you realize how personal it’s going to be.”
Yeah, well she did know, because she heard all the questions before. So the host’s and contestant’s reactions are all an act. Her family’s reactions could have been genuine, but who knows? She may have tipped them off before the show about the questions which were going to be asked.
That being said, I probably won’t watch the show again. For one thing, despite the subject matter, it’s extremely boring.
February 29, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Once I saw a photograph of Adolf Hitler smiling as he was meeting a group of little children. Does this make him a good person?
Hey, I’m just sayin’…
February 29, 2008 at 6:55 pm
“It’s not who I am, but what I do that defines me.” — Batman, from “Batman Begins”
February 29, 2008 at 7:13 pm
…”The host asked what her son thought of this and she said that he knows she’s a good person and that we’re not defined by our actions.”
Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
…Samuel Smiles
Need I say more?
February 29, 2008 at 10:12 pm
It truly is sad how important money and “fame” are to people.
February 29, 2008 at 10:13 pm
This kind of cultural rot is why I don’t watch so-called reality television.
March 13, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I posted an article on that last week.
The first and last time I watched it (kind of like driving by a car accident) the guy answered a whole bunch of relationship and job prospects destroying questions truthfully, and the one that messed him up (and lost him the $1000) was: “When you were an underwear model, did you ever stuff your underwear?”.
Sheesh, the least damaging (to others) question, and he has to try and like about the size of his Johnson.