Quote Originally Posted by kokopup View Post



I can see how the locals would be upset with how they are depicted.
I have seen media distortion for years, after all i was raised in Birmingham, Alabama. It is true that there are still pockets of poverty
in Appalachia. This is true for just about every region in the US. Look at our intercity. It is not fair to go out in the mountain and find a few families and make it a epidemic. Drug abuse is not unique to this or any region of our world. This is a problem that plagues all regions, And income groups. Incest is a another worldwide problem that they tried
to isolate to the Mountain people. We give it a name like child abuse or
some other name but it is still incest.The number one social problem in the Netherland is incest. This is a country with one of the highest standard of living in the world. There are religious groups that have incest as a part of there tenet's. This is not a unique problem to Appalachia

Changing social issues in is not easy from the outside. It must start from within. Martin Luther King would roll over in his grave if he could see how rampant black on black crime is. How do you stop this. It has
to be a change in the mindset of the people. This is true with Appalachia and the intercity of our larger cities. It is easy to have exposes' on the problems facing America and the world , that 20/20 is famous for, but harder to come up with solutions to these problems.
Very well said. You've made some wonderful points.

Having lived in the area for a few years, I was able to witness that dark side of life first hand. I longed for the day that those people would wake up and try to help themsleves. Eventually I realized, it would probably never happen. Changing social issues from the outside is nearly impossible for sure. Learning to live differently than you have for hundreds of years is nearly impossible as well.

To me, there is a fine line between exposing this situation or keeping it hidden. Either way, it should be depicted accurately.
I can also understand how those natives feel after seeing the program. It most likely brought them to feel ashamed of themselves. However, the website , as well as the show itself, provided disclaimers for the facts they were presenting. On one hand you could see it as being portrayed both ways I suppose. 1.) As if everyone in eastern Kentucky is living like that. or 2.) Only certain groups/families in exclusive pockets are living like that.

Appalachia is not the only area in the U.S. with the problems that were portrayed in Sunday's show. Not by any means. I want to believe that it wasn't ABC's intention to represent the fact that they thought it was exclusive. I hope Diane Sawyer did it to raise awareness of that area just in that particular program. Maybe we'll see other areas brought into the light after the comments she's received. I can agree with the points mentioned in alot of the comments but the nasty remarks were unnecessary.

I don't know if anything will reach these people. Will they ever choose to live another way? I believe they are distinct from others in comparable situations. As I said before, it's hard to explain. I've met alot of people in my life but never any people exactly like the people of the mountains. I considered my husband's family as some of the more learned people there. I never met the people that lived even further on top of the mountains and deeper in the hollers. It was a character building experience from the first day I was there. I'm a different person today because of it.

I can't relate to all those people in the show. I know the residents of the area can't completely relate to all of them either. I do think they need to open their eyes and realize these problems exist rather than acting as if they don't. I was surprised at how many comments indicated the situation isn't realistic.

If something can be done, I hope 20/20 can make sure that something is done and follow through with it. In the meantime, I hope they continue to bring improvement and expose other parts of the country that are suffering. I shudder to think they do this for ratings only and ignore the gigantic resposes they receive.