Dr. Phil's "House of Hatred"

not to be confused with Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. So basically, Dr. Phil has a new show called “House of Hatred” in which 6 very different people have to live in a house together, have their lives taped, and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. Actually, that’s “The Real World”, but the idea is similar. But in Dr. Phil’s house, the people are literally positioned as the binary opposite of another person in the house and forced to room with this person. Pair number 1 is the white supremacist guy and the black woman who hates white people, followed by the thin girl who hates fat people and the 600 lb man who hates thin people, and lastly the homophobe and the straight-hating lesbian. Everything about this premise just rubs me the wrong way. First of all, for a guy like Dr. Phil who’s known for saying “Get real!”, this is incredibly contrived, and the binaries are so extreme whereas in real life, issues of ignorance and/or hate are so much more complex than this. Which brings me to my second point, which is that it eschews any attempt at a more complex (and more relevant) discussion about difference in our society by reducing the housemates to representing one thing in a binary rather than as complete people. Plus the name of the show is pretty awful.

Another thing that I noticed in some of the video clips I watched was that people (mainly Gary the white supremacist) became more comfortable with Tessa (the lesbian) if they accepted that homosexuality was not a choice. While I think it's good for people to question their own homophobia, I think it’s problematic if all compassion for queer people is predicated on this. I don’t want to be pitied like I have some kind of “disease” that I can’t control. But I recognize that for many people, queer and straight, the “It is a choice/It isn’t a choice” argument is really important.

You can find out more about “House of Hatred” at the official site:

http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/780#

or also, check out this editorial on it. It’s pretty funny:

http://www.afterellen.com/column/2006/11/quote-hatred.html