Would you give up your baby?
What would you need to be offered to hand over one of your children to strangers? How about a computer game?
Tim Challies drew my attention to this very unsettling article about a prank played on radio listeners in the US. The morning show host of a local radio station asked listeners if they’d be willing to give up their babies for 24 hours to get their hands on a Playstation 3. They were surprised to find that quite a number of people were more than happy to pass their flesh and blood over to complete strangers to get the latest game console.
More than a dozen callers got through to offer their children before the radio station revealed that it was a gag. They considered their practical joke to be a social experiment. They say that there were many more calls that couldn’t get through.
KDWB morning show executive producer Steve “Steve-o” LaTart said he was surprised how many people were interested in the bogus swap, which consisted of handing over your child to LaTart for 24 hours in exchange for a PS3.
“There were a lot of phone calls that we didn’t even get to and I would say three quarters of them were serious,” said LaTart.
People with babies of all ages — including a 2-day-old and a 1-week-old — made it on air. One of the more serious sounding calls came from a woman named “Katie,” who agreed to give up her 1-month-old for three days. She wanted to sell the PS3 on eBay to make some extra money for the holidays.
You can hear some audio of the programme by clicking here. Included in the audio is a very irate man telling the radio presenters how disgusting the idea was.
Is this the ultimate expression of the materialistic society we’re building?
Posted by Rodney Olsen
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The only thing surprising about that story is that people still find it surprising. My mother was working in a supermarket a decade ago, and even then people would opt out of buying their children food if they had to choose between that and buying themselves cigarettes.
I imagine the PS3 probably costs a bit more than a packet of fags, so people make greater sacrifices.
Given the choice, I’d take the PS3 anyday…