# MARRIED BY AMERICA??? The institution of marriage is dead! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 3, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750 "2003-03-03T14:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/41 "2003-03-05T13:48:01Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by jinwicked_ > I don’t watch television at all! Nyeh! Well, **I** don’t even know what is this strange contraption, what do you call it. . .“television” is! And what of these “ree-al-i-tee shows” you speak of?😛 😛 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/42 "2003-03-05T15:37:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ice Wolf \* > \*\*It’s _still_ a marriage by arrangement. \*\* …and? Several of my friends are in arranged marriages. It took me some getting used to the conept but now I don’t even think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/43 "2003-03-06T01:39:38Z")
I saw one of the promos for this. Cute blonde was whining about how her dating forays had only netted “losers”. Said I, “What’s a loser? Someone who goes on TV and admits that they can’t find a partner? That their looks don’t make up for a complete lack of personality or character?” Not that this is **entirely** new…I mean, look at **Blind Date**. And I think MTV had another show with a similiar theme. But dating is one thing. People who want to get married just for the sake of getting married deserve whatever they get. Oh, and as far as the people who’ve been saying they want to create the worst match…how do you know which match would be the worst? If you hook up the most attractive person with the one who’s least so, is that supposed to be a punishment for the attractive one? If you’re going off the assumption that supposedly “unattractive” people have sterling character and “attractive” people are all goons, why punish the unattractive? AFAIC, **none** of these people would make good mates. If they were worthy, they wouldn’t want to do this. ---
**Author:** ![Azure\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@Azure\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azure_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/44 "2003-03-06T04:14:26Z")
Well, the people don’t **have** to get married - they just don’t see each other until they are “engaged” and then live together for a [few weeks](http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/story.cgi?show=111&story=4768) . It’s only then that they decide whether to get married or not. And it’s not as if people are getting married just to get married - they’re getting money and a car too! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/45 "2003-03-06T07:45:53Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Dijon Warlock \* > \*\*It’s a statistical fact[sup]_[/sup] that fully one half of all reality shows end in divorce. > > [sub][sup]\*[/sup]It probably isn’t, but what the hell.[/sub] \*\* Yeah, it’s probably closer to 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/46 "2003-03-06T08:06:55Z")
- and that’s not counting the ones that end in gunplay. [sub]care of Woody Allen[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/47 "2003-03-06T11:31:15Z")
I still like the idea of setting them up in gay marriages. That’s actually creative. Think they’ll do a one-year reunion episode? ---
**Author:** ![jessicala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jessicala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessicala)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750/48 "2003-03-06T21:20:58Z")
I was really bored this week (home alone) so I tivo’d it and watched in FF. Hate to disappoint you all, but the family/friends **did** have a significant role in picking the potential spouses. It wasn’t just a matter of Choose Any Random Shmoe. The phone voters only got two choices, and those two choices have been interviewed and narrowed down from a group of 5 by a panel of the contestant’s family and/or friends. It was also really, really unexciting. But I wasn’t feeling energetic enough to do laundry or unload the dishwasher instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-by-america-the-institution-of-marriage-is-dead/158750.md?page=2)