By Brendan McLaughlin
Oprah's Big Give which debuted Sunday night on ABC worked its manipulative magic on me as I knew it would. The tragic testimonials, tearful hugs and a soaring emo soundtrack never fail to moisten the eyes and tighten the throat. In "The Big Give", several teams of do-gooders are each assigned a hard luck case they must rescue- usually with community fundraisers and corporate largesse.
The point at which I went from verklempt to schpilkus came when the 4 year old daughters of a man gunned down in a robbery were given a Target store toy shopping spree. The cherubic twins were told to gather up as many toys as they wanted. Then the video is speeded up to condense the sequence of toys being yanked off shelves and stuffed into carts. By the end, the girls look exhausted nearly to tears. The segment concludes with a quick shot of eight (count 'em eight) fully loaded shopping carts rolling through the parking lot.
My reaction was yecchh. The show's contestants ultimately secured scholarships for the girls and made sure the now single mother and her children could stay in their house indefinitely- an undeniably noble accomplishment. But did these kids really need enough toys for 20 children? Does burying this grieving family with a lot of stuff relieve their pain?
My problem with these lavish giveaway shows is that they raise awareness of the terrible inequities in our world and then immediately worsen that inequity by dumping an avalanche of cash, appliances, toys, clothes, cars and Apple products on top of some "lucky" recipient. Wouldn't it be enough to give a needy family what they need instead of more than they could possibly want?