Married at First Sight

  • Thread starter Thread starter Murmurs
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Murmurs

Guest
It was only a matter of time before some idiot took reality-TV cud and stretched it to its natural conclusion: complete strangers agreeing to legally marry the first moment they meet.

Described as an extreme social experiment, Married at First Sight enlists a team of “experts” to evaluate a group of single people in order to determine which of them will make the best romantic partners for each other. They then have to get married without ever having met and live together for a month before deciding if they will stay together or get divorced.

They claim to have had thousands of applicants - of those they selected, most dropped out after realising they had to marry a total stranger, and from the remainder, they found three ideal couples to force into marriage.

If nothing else, that’s not enough people for me. It’s just a random assortment of people—albeit, people who have agreed to the same bat **** plan as you—but still totally random. This leads me to my biggest problem with this so-called experiment. They repeatedly claim that this is no different from an arranged marriage. This is absolutely nothing like an arranged marriage.

For starters, it is 2014. Arranged marriages are no longer common so there’s no reason why we should be completely unfazed by this. Secondly, this isn’t the strategic coming together of families for the purpose of building wealth and power. There’s no real practical reason for these marriages aside from television ratings and advertising revenue.

Finally, an arranged marriage generally doesn’t involve your family choosing someone they found walking down the street. While romantic love may not always be the goal of an arranged marriage, it would at least be set up by a group of people who actually know the bride and groom intimately. I don’t care how in-depth their personality quizzes were, I wouldn’t trust a psychologist to know me better than my own parents.

Producers tried to keep us in some suspense about which individuals would be matched together, but it was pretty obvious: the black people together, the Christians together and the other two. (I don’t normally link to never mind read the Daily Mail, but dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2684726/Would-tie-knot-total-stranger-Meet-couples-getting-MARRIED-sight.html …)

As the couples prepared for the weddings, their friends and family obviously looked at them like they were insane. Because they are.

So yeah, I’m not really buying this stupid social experiment and forgive me if I don’t predict a surge in arranged marriages.

And some people think that homosexuals pose a threat to the sanctity of marriage?
 
I find this fascinating for some reason. The role social science can play in marriage.
The “trial” period really defies the whole concept of marriage and for better or for worse. Then you can get divorced so no real committment.

Mary.
 
Sounds like just another way to make a mockery of marriage. Next, let’s marry the dog or our horse, or maybe the pig. 😦
 
Murmurs said:
It was only a matter of time before some idiot took reality-TV cud and stretched it to its natural conclusion: complete strangers agreeing to legally marry the first moment they meet.

Described as an extreme social experiment, Married at First Sight enlists a team of “experts” to evaluate a group of single people in order to determine which of them will make the best romantic partners for each other. They then have to get married without ever having met and live together for a month before deciding if they will stay together or get divorced.

They claim to have had thousands of applicants - of those they selected, most dropped out after realising they had to marry a total stranger, and from the remainder, they found three ideal couples to force into marriage.

If nothing else, that’s not enough people for me. It’s just a random assortment of people—albeit, people who have agreed to the same bat **** plan as you—but still totally random. This leads me to my biggest problem with this so-called experiment. They repeatedly claim that this is no different from an arranged marriage. This is absolutely nothing like an arranged marriage.

For starters, it is 2014. Arranged marriages are no longer common so there’s no reason why we should be completely unfazed by this. Secondly, this isn’t the strategic coming together of families for the purpose of building wealth and power. There’s no real practical reason for these marriages aside from television ratings and advertising revenue.

Finally, an arranged marriage generally doesn’t involve your family choosing someone they found walking down the street. While romantic love may not always be the goal of an arranged marriage, it would at least be set up by a group of people who actually know the bride and groom intimately. I don’t care how in-depth their personality quizzes were, I wouldn’t trust a psychologist to know me better than my own parents.

Producers tried to keep us in some suspense about which individuals would be matched together, but it was pretty obvious: the black people together, the Christians together and the other two. (I don’t normally link to never mind read the Daily Mail, but dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2684726/Would-tie-knot-total-stranger-Meet-couples-getting-MARRIED-sight.html …)

As the couples prepared for the weddings, their friends and family obviously looked at them like they were insane. Because they are.

So yeah, I’m not really buying this stupid social experiment and forgive me if I don’t predict a surge in arranged marriages.

And some people think that homosexuals pose a threat to the sanctity of marriage?
Click to expand...
The nicest thing I can think of to say about this show is that it is incredibly stupid and I wonder how much these couples are being paid to participate. It points to several illnesses in our society today: one is our fascination with “reality TV”. Look at that show “The Bachelor” --one man and about 10 girls willing to make an a@S out of themselves to get a rose. Then look at the Kardashians. Have you ever seen such a group of prostitute wanna-be’s, famous for nothing but being famous, with no talent, yet able to command enough ratings on TV to stay on the air? Secondly, it’s a perfect example of what Pope Francis alluded to about our throw away culture. If the marriage isn’t working in a month, you ditch it and get a divorce. What does that say about the level of commitment someone would have who would willingly participate in such a thing?
 
​

This is ridiculous and an attack on marriage Nothing more but another nail on the coffin where they want to bury marriage…
 
The marriages will probably last longer than the average Hollywood marriage…
 
lutheran_farmer said:
The marriages will probably last longer than the average Hollywood marriage…
Click to expand...
haha … very funny

On a more serious note, marriages were once arranged. Or the family’s older generation took part in the community to get their eligible children introduced as possible matches to other family’s eligible children. The role of the family in matchmaking has diminished so much as to simply not exist anymore in large swaths of Western society. Young adults are almost completely left to their own devices and have been for several generations now. Just look at the dating threads here on CAF. Hence the rise in dating services shows the demand coming from people who believe they need help in this area.

So yes I agree this particular show based on secular values is ridiculous on the surface and sinful with respect to Church teachings, but there’s a core point to be seen here, one which I hopefully made clear above …
 
On the bright side, we know they’ll be waiting until after they are married before they live together. :o

But seriously, this is pretty messed up.
 
Catholic1954 said:
It sounds more like a 30 day date to me. 🤷
Click to expand...
Right. It’s a 30 day blind date. But they are having them get married to up the ante and crank up the drama. It is sad to see them using marriage as a hook by which to gain an audience.
 
I can’t even imagine the type of release forms they have to sign. The real dangers include everything from domestic violence to excessive drugs or alcohol. It’s bad enough that Hollywood steamrolls over actors that actually seek fame, but they must look at these gullible people as fresh meat with no unions to protect them. Truly a souless industry with the worst intentions in mind. I don’t watch any reality shows because I think it’s just a modern day version of a circus freak show where there is no human dignity.
 
Zzyzx_Road said:
haha … very funny

On a more serious note, marriages were once arranged. Or the family’s older generation took part in the community to get their eligible children introduced as possible matches to other family’s eligible children. The role of the family in matchmaking has diminished so much as to simply not exist anymore in large swaths of Western society. Young adults are almost completely left to their own devices and have been for several generations now. Just look at the dating threads here on CAF. Hence the rise in dating services shows the demand coming from people who believe they need help in this area.

So yes I agree this particular show based on secular values is ridiculous on the surface and sinful with respect to Church teachings, but there’s a core point to be seen here, one which I hopefully made clear above …
Click to expand...
That’s kind of my point as well: there’s nothing wrong (theoretically) with arranged marriages. Although, it seems fairly obvious that the would-be couple need to have the absolute final say about it…the now-almost-nonexistent role of the family in matchmaking is probably to be regretted to some extent (clearly by no means is a marriage brought about by the two extended families necessarily any better) - because as you say many many young people, for whatever reason, need or feel they need the ‘help’ of services like dating agencies, which kind of serve to replace the family role. That is not what this programme is doing.

The other point, of course, and something which everyone on this thread clearly agrees with, is that inane reality shows like this are the absolute worse way to even think about this kind of problem. They’re horrendously exploitative, and as some have pointed out could pose all kinds of emotional or even physical risks for the participants.
 
There are plenty of nice guys from high school and college that I can think of that would have been good “marriage material” on paper, but I never felt any kind of romantic love for them and never would. I also know plenty of couples that love each other and have great marriages, but they are different enough that a social scientist probably wouldn’t have matched them.

There is a reason why dating services work, but only to a certain extent, and I doubt many people end up marrying the first person they are matched to in a dating service. To some extent, what makes a marriage work is not always clear cut. My husband and I went on a pre-Cana retreat hosted by the diocese and a couple actually called off their wedding during the retreat. It isn’t the first time that has happened, and the diocese considers that just as much of a “success” as any of the couples that realize they ARE meant to marry. I have people in my own family that called off engagements because they realized during the engagement that they weren’t meant to marry someone. One of the family members had known the fiance since elementary school! Marriage isn’t something to be taken lightly. Turning what is essentially a blind date into a supposed lifetime commitment is a recipe for disaster.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top