info-50283

First of all, this series portrays physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, coercive control, murder, etc. Where were the trigger warnings? And what was the purpose of this series other than for entertainment value? It brought together all those affected, the spouses and their families, got them to talk about the events in great detail, yet somehow neglected to even ask them what they learnt from these "worst ex ever"s and how their experience has changed their perspectives. It takes four episodes for someone to even describe coercive control. The other people like the police and DAs don't discuss domestic violence or what people should do if they ever find their prince or princess turning into a toxic toad. So the series is basically DV porn with little educational value.

And I just have to add how people who rate this voyeuristic garbage highly seem to have experienced domestic violence themselves, and somehow find solace and validation in watching the depiction of others' misfortunes. They also tend to conveniently ignore that men can suffer from domestic violence too (see episode 3) and this tends to be underreported because they don't appear as credible as battered women. Bad parenting produces both tormented sons and daughters, who then bring their distorted perceptions into their relationships. If you find yourself in multiple failed or abusive relationships, perhaps you might be contributing to it. Seek help.

Just because Dahmer was gay does not mean that his story needed a major Ryan Murphy treatment. This retelling of the life of the infamous gay white serial killer through the white lens of Dahmer and Murphy was repugnant in its grotesque insensitivity to the victims of colour, their families, and the gay men of colour who to this day remain vulnerable members of the white-dominated gay community.

Casting Dahmer so centrally in this bloated 10-episode biopic is a reminder of how disposable and unimportant his mostly ethnic victims were. Why did he not target more gay white men? Ostensibly because they were not as marginalised as his non-white victims were. Gay people of colour remain cheap commodities for gay white men who could not hack it with their own kind. When gay white men like Murphy produce and endorse shows like these, they only increase the sexual dominance and capital of gay white men. Gay men of colour become vulnerable to opportunists like Dahmer precisely because most gay white men are still not progressive enough to date outside their own race.

Supposedly an "informative documentary... on managing money", Get Smart with Money instead offers more reason not to move to or live in the United States. We have a waitress who makes $4000 a month, spends almost $200 a week on takeout, then claims to have no money left to pay for anti-depressants. Which is more damning, that or the fact she thinks the only way to deal with her anxiety and depression is to take medication? Next we have a young mother who is deep in debt with a penchant for impulsive spending and it does not occur to her that she should trade retail therapy for actual psychotherapy. Then comes the NFL athlete who earned more with his first professional pay check than most people on the planet earn in a lifetime crying that he has financial worries. Finally the stay-at-home dad and his life-coach wife whose issue is her curiously skyrocketing income from empowering women and his apparent joblessness? These sound like manufactured difficulties to me and insulting to those facing real hardship.

It is difficult to have sympathy for these people because they are so swept up by the ideals of financial and material success in their society that they do not take pause and ask themselves what they actually value in life. Unfortunately, they are no closer to examining their own values and definition of success when they have these dubious experts impose their values on them. If it was so easy making money by investing, there would not be poor people left on this planet. Where there are winners, there will always be losers; for some to gain, others have to lose. This is simply the way the world works. It is ironic that one of them pointed out that money is a "tool". If it is indeed a tool, what explains their obsession over it and the idea of early retirement? Instead of taking advantage of one's talents to make money, they could focus on living a self-actualised life led according to one's values. I would argue that it is the collective obsession with wealth that is making Americans mentally unwell. They have so much compared to other parts of the world, but yet remain so deeply dissatisfied.