A Television Show is Worth a Thousand Words

warning readers: I'm about to make fun of Chattanooga and some of it's residents...

if you aren't in the mood, stop reading now.

How funny is it that when I turned on Gossip Girl last night, there was an episode of Little House on the Prairie airing instead? Apparently due to the controversy, the local CW affiliate decided to air the "3 some" episode at 11 instead of it's normal 8 o'clock slot.

Now, honestly, I could not have picked a better replacement show than Little House on the Prairie to illustrate what I've been saying since I moved here. It is the perfect analogy. Little House on the Prairie is to Gossip Girl like Chattanooga is to the real world. The airing of that particular show better communicates my frustration than one million blog posts or two million rants. It's astounding, because the analogy works on so many levels.

First, exactly how out of touch must one be to think that Little House on the Prairie is going to be appealing (other than perhaps IRONICALLY) to the audience of Gossip Girl? If it indeed was a message being sent by the moral majority of this city, the message was received. We get it. You wish families were more like the Ingalls. You wish life was more like it was back on the prairie. You'll do whatever you can to preserve that thinking. Got it. The only problem is, they (families) aren't all like the Ingalls. And it (life) isn't as simple as a fictional family drama. Times have changed. And if you want to be relevant and reach people of TODAY your tactics should probably change too. Ever consider that force feeding your beliefs might not be the best way to spread your message?

Now I have to admit, at first I was shocked the "3 some" episode aired in the land of milk and cookies at all... But the more I thought about it, I wasn't so shocked at all. (And here's another way the analogy works.) REALLY the moral majority of Chattanooga is less Little House on the Prairie than they'd like us to believe. They're just as Gossip Girl as everyone else. They just like to hide it using the Ingalls family smoke and mirrors to redirect our attention. Meanwhile, they hide all that brokenness, sin and debauchery where nobody can see or where it could be easily over looked. It's total hypocrisy and absolutely exhausting to witness - and what's worse - totally human and, okay, okay, not specific to this region of the country.

It's just that some days it sure feels like it is.