Originally Posted By DAR <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070529/en_nm/eu_donors_dc_2" target="_blank">http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200 70529/en_nm/eu_donors_dc_2</a> Really sickening if you ask me.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF As someone who's on the waiting list for a new heart (but stable for now...at least physically, if not mentally *g*), I have to agree. As difficult as this is to have to go through, I take an odd sort of comfort knowing that it's the luck of the draw for most organ transplants. There is always someone out there in worse shape than I. This woman has the lives of at least two people in her hands, all for the sake of entertainment. It's so wrong on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. And I'm left feeling surprised that FOX didn't come up with this idea already...
Originally Posted By retlawfan There are some thing even FOX won't air. I cannot think of any others right now, but there must be something
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF >>I did not know that. You take care of yourself, okay?<< Thanks, DAR. I'm actually not all that bad off in the greater scheme of things. If you saw me, you wouldn't know there was a problem. (Ask Trippy or Darkbeer; they've met me!) A pacemaker and really good drugs have done wonders. I am still on the waiting list but on inactive status right now, meaning I will be skipped over if a matching heart comes down to my spot on the list. I got the news almost two years ago that this would be part of my future, but it doesn't seem to be as imminent as the doctors first believed. I keep a blog about all this if you want to take a look. Link is in my profile. (And I urge those who haven't already to consider becoming an organ donor. You can make such a huge difference in the lives of your recipients.)
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Turns out it was an elaborate hoax to point out the shortage of donor organs in the Netherlands.
Originally Posted By Jetlag ^ Well, the show was after all produced by Endemol, who also conceived "Big Brother" and other reality shows. They are known to sell their mothers (but obviously not their organs) for good ratings. The "Donor" was an actor, but the "contestants" were real people who do need new organs to survive. They played the show until the end and when it was time to "chose a winner" they reveiled that the show was staged. Of course everybody in the show was in on the scam. The viewers were left with the message that, had the show been real, the chances to get a new organ would have been 1:3. A number which people in real life can only dream of. Actually i have not found out, if the ratings for the show were any good. The public outcry to ban the show was gigantic. And it seems that people discuss it across the world.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF ^^^ Yes, but they're not discussing the lack of organ donors. People were so outraged over the show itself that that's all they're talking about. If this was meant to get people to think about becoming organ donors, I think this might have backfired.
Originally Posted By jonvn 12 for 10. 11 is right. I don't think anyone is going to do a thing about organ donation now because of this. They might, however, start looking into the subject matter of these TV shows. Which would be a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
Originally Posted By Jetlag Making people become donors was probably not the "main" theme of the show. I haven´t seen it myself, since I am in America right now. But people told me about the show. I think the shocking truth (apart from people actually watching the show and taking it for real) was that the "contestants" would have had a much greater chance (1:3) to get a new vital organ than in reality. And this point was obviously clearly made at the end of the show. I think every intelligent person can get his clues from there and decide for himself. I don´t know myself what to think about this show. Its a little bit like the "Benetton"-Ads from a decade back. Is it pure shock-value? Making money with other peoples misery while selling it as charity? A media stunt as the only way to gain publicity in a society that becomes less and less reflexive (because of the numbing effect of media-stunts)?
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<Making people become donors was probably not the "main" theme of the show.>> The alleged main goal of the show was to pressure the Dutch government to change its laws regulating organ donation. Apparently those laws are overly restrictive and needlessly prevent numerous potentially successful organ donations each year.
Originally Posted By Wig To correct all visions on the show here... AFTER the show, the reactions were overwhelming.... POSITIVE. This is probably due to the simple fact that in Europe, once it's clear this was a piece of theatre (with massive attention on it going on from the start), the purpose of the show was accepted again: The purpose really WAS to gain attention for the existing problem, and the result was: THOUSANDS of people spontaneously registered to be a donor... Allways think twice before condemning a great piece of theater... As it actually WAS. I guess this would have failed in US, just because of too much fundamental religious people who would keep going on fighting the show, even after it was known to be a theater play. (Remember 1984????........) Then, some subtopic: WHY was this show set up and got attention in HOLLAND, and not in BELGIUM? Because this problem exists in Holland and not in Belgium. In Belgium, the legal rule is simple: you are a donor-by-law, unless you sign explicitely your refusal. (There is a form for that...) In Holland, you are a donor, only if you explicitely sign your will to be so. THAT is what it all was about. It was to make the people themselves aware of the problem... (government only in 2nd place, there they supposed the politicians to adopt the Belgian laaw in Holland)
