"The Bachelor" - Turning a Blind Eye

     Get ready viewers, the 16th season Bachelor has been named - Ben Flajnik!  First premiering on March 25th, 2002, prime time reality TV has brought to American culture The Bachelor where one man has the opportunity over several weeks of "exotic and exciting dates" through the process of elimination to progressively pick from 25 eligible single women that one true love. In true dating style and realities, each woman at any point along if she is no longer interested can decline his invitation to continue dating.  Of course, the season climax to this new-fangled courtship drama is how the lucky remaining woman responds if he pops the big question, "Will you marry me?"
     The concept of love and relationship finding on television is nothing new as The Bachelor is a fanciful spin on The Dating Game, but given the American conservative culture has guarded and preserved this precious institution so well to date, the goal of this reality show is - well, you guessed it...marriage.
     It is confounding that The Defenders of Marriage (see this Blog's sidebar) have been silent to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the network sponsoring The Bachelor.  Considering the show's trivial treatment of this hallowed institution, that it commands millions of viewers (many of which are impressionable young adults) during prime time makes one wonder if those defenders are in effect willing witnesses to a shaky cultural shift on the matter of marriage.
    The Defenders of Marriage have been bystanders for not one season, but 15 seasons of this trivialization. (Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Gossip)