Daytime talk shows remind me of group.
My god! I can't believe I never made that connection before those programs could have been created by someone who had been though one of these fucking programs; maybe they were.
The formate is identical. They get some sucker to state something-- "I like the way I dress I look sexy. I don't care what anyone else says." Then they open it up to the audience to call them nasty things till they recant and agree to a make over.
I've always said that when our culture falls historians are going to point to the popularity of those shows as evidence of our crumbling social structure. The way throwing christians to the lions is understood as a evidence of the crumbling roman empire.
I used to get really anxious before staff meetings at work. It took me years to figure out that it was because my moody boss made the experience like group for me. Mostly the meetings were dull but every few weeks she would get in a bunch about something and wail on us. Just like group, long periods of boredom punctuated by sudden attacks. For months I was mystified by my anxiety, everyone else thought she could be a royal bitch but I was the only one crying before staff meetings. When I made the connection that the way I felt in staff meetings, was the way I felt in group my feelings made sense. Her explosions were a pain in the ass to my co-workers, but to me it was a trip back to the front row.
One last thing, I heard a radio story in the last year about DARE. According to this report there was never any evidence that this program kept anyone off drugs and yet it continued to be funded regardless of the lack of proof that it worked. I don't remember it there was a study that showed it didn't work or if there was never any evaluation of the programs success at all.
can't say it suprised me.