I’ve been stewing some time about CBS’s upcoming reality show (read: social experiment) called Kid Nation. I’ve thought this show was just a bad idea from the start, after what I admit was a fleeting moment of interest and curiosity when I first saw a commercial for the show. But it wasn’t until NPR did a story questioning not only the production’s motives, but more importantly the long terms impacts of the experience on the children itself, that I gave the matter much thought.

No-one could possibly be fooling themselves to think that CBS made this show any reason other than to make money — and definitely not to “promote goodwill and a learning experience [for children] on a positive note,” as a mother quoted in this Detroit Free Press story hypothesized. So what’s bothering me is the general media silence and lack of public concern over the new show, the NPR show notwithstanding.

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