Television shows: causes of misconceptions

     TLC's new show, "Breaking Amish," premiered in September. The reality show depicts Amish people venturing into New York to explore modern life for the first time. Advertisements promise to "pull back the curtains" on the Amish lifestyle, providing insight into how Amish people live and how they adjust to the modern world. The only problem with this is that the show has been accused of falsely representing its characters. Old photos of characters in modern clothes have surfaced, and claims that some have been married, divorced and have children have come up as well. TLC and Hot Snakes, the show's production company, issued a joint response to these accusations, saying that "There is a lot of information floating around about the group featured on 'Breaking Amish.' Much of it is not true, but some of it is -- and is addressed in upcoming episodes."
     Here's where we get into a sticky issue, however. How can TLC claim to accurately represent an Amish person's life and adventure into the modern world when its subjects have already been exposed to modern life? In a society where we already have tons of misconceptions about people because of their religion, I don't believe it's right for TLC to show this television series. The network is giving viewers an invalid reference point when it comes to this show. These characters obviously are not first-time venturers into the modern world, so they're not truly unexposed Amish people. America isn't given a truthful image of an unexposed group of Amish people to base their opinions on. When people see these shows, they gain conceptions of what life is like for unfamiliar cultures. This means that people will watch this show, take the information they learn, and apply it to all Amish people, which isn't right. I'm from a small Texas town and live on a farm, which most people take to mean that I live with (or am) a complete southern hillbilly. People watch shows like "My Big Redneck Vacation" and think they know how people in my town act. I've had classmates travel to New York that have been asked if we ride horses to school, which is a horrible misconception. Television shows that don't present truthful images of people in certain societies or of certain religious or racial backgrounds contribute to the trouble we have with inequality in America.