Why Is No One Talking About This Messed Up Date From This Week’s Bachelorette?

One of the hottest shows on TV and the not-so-guilty Monday night pleasure of women across the nation, the Bachelorette serves as a modern American love story with its starring protagonist an unofficial role models in popular culture.

And yet, I was literally cringing watching the Bachelorette, Becca, and her date, Blake, on Monday night as they took a sledgehammer to a warehouse filled with items in perfectly good condition. From smashing TV’s, a car, guitars and pianos, dozens of bottles of champagne and glassware, a couch, and a plethora of other items, my jaw dropped a little lower and eyes grew wider with each hit. But no fear, the network shamelessly flashed the “no animals were harmed in the making of this episode” message across the screen as shards of glass went flying…

In case you missed it, here’s a link to the clip.

ABC, what were you thinking?

Forget that sustainability is supposed to be sexy because I’m starting to believe I’m the only one who thinks so. How about the twisted and mentally unhealthy message the scene sends to millions of viewers? Where is the violently destroy everything in your vicinity technique listed as a healthy emotional behavior in any of the discourse about mental health? Bravo ABC for advertising it on your family TV network.

So girls, next time you’re broken up with and your heart is aching, just do what Becca did… and make sure to have Lil Jon there to do the soundtrack.

I’ll be the first to admit that the angrier and more hurt I am, the stronger the desire to destroy everything in my path. But to play into the pathos of a breakup and advertise the cathartic benefits of physically taking out your stress with reckless behavior—and better yet, to make it look so fun and romantic? Not even a “Don’t try this at home, kids.”

A giant pillow fight would’ve been just as sexy, therapeutic, and effective as the destructive drama ABC decided to debut. And a hell of a lot less wasteful.

Better yet, go to a car junkyard. Go to a landfill. Go to a place where things go when they want to be obliterated.

In an effort to assuage my anger, I reached out to ABC to find out the true story of the demolition: Where did these items come from? What was done with the materials after the show? Were they recycled? Did ABC just single-handedly fill up a landfill? Did I just watch thousands of dollars worth of usable goods be destroyed on national television? Did I miss the sign flashing across the screen where ABC apologizes for the blatant disregard of the circular economy? I’m still waiting for a response.

In the meantime, I looked online to see if anyone else was as hot and bothered as me. Turns out, nothing has been published yet on the interweb.

Perhaps I’m a tad greenwashed and jaded after returning from four months backpacking solo across Southeast Asia and Europe—it’s no lie I have a newfound perspective on the value of “things” and recognize the gross consumerism and sense of entitlement oozing from the upper echelon of privileged American culture.

But, I take it personally when useful things with usable potential are destroyed forever and thrown in a landfill (as ABC has just presumably done) because these items are unrecoverable, and the resources are lost to us forever. All of us.

Am I the only one who thinks there’s something wrong here? Am I the only one with a raised eyebrow? Where are you America?

It might just be one warehouse filled with stuff one time, but it’s symbolic of a broader disrespect for our planet in the times of feared climate change and natural disasters. Thousands of people in Puerto Rico are still reeling from Hurricane Maria without a couch, a TV, a guitar, and then some. But no one wants to watch the Bachelorette on a Monday night after a long day of work and whine about the wasteful woes of primetime drama. I get it.

But now I speak directly to you, ABC: Couldn’t there have been any better way to do this?