Something crass lurks behind the do-gooder smile [View All]

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By Paul Brownfield, Times Staff Writer

<snip> Yeah, you say, but they're helping. True. Except that charity on TV is never just about helping. It's about being seen helping. And in order to be seen helping you need to parade the victim onstage too. <snip>

And so on Tuesday, on "Extreme Today," Couric was having some trouble getting a 7-year-old girl whose family had lost their home to play along. Couric wanted her to dance to Beyoncé, then come look at her new bed and clothes, then dance again. In the 7-year-old's face you didn't see heartbreak or struggle, you only saw a kind of fun spontaneity perfectly suited to her age and to the moment. She was in a hurricane, and now she was on TV, and people were giving her things.

"Stop looking at your stuff for two seconds," Couric said at one point, trying to direct her back to center stage. She wanted little Jada to dance again.

"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret," goes the Gospel of Matthew. Failing this, goes the gospel according to TV giving, put both hands together and give yourself a round of applause.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-ontv30sep30,0,3216535.story?coll=cl-home-more-channels