Wife swap looks highly amusing

[sophierosie]

Jesus christians/freegans v millionaires!

I still didn't work out what the freegan actually did with his life? Can understand he didn't want to work for a wage, but there are plenty of ways in which to volunteer out of love.

think he did streetpreaching ,LM, and asking for donations. don't know to what cause.

Well yes, I don't exactly subscribe to the Jesus Christian view of life. But I thought they raised some interesting points.

Presumably if he carried on working for that recycling company and they went to live a "normal" life in a flat then they'd end up on housing benefit. That would be significantly more cost for the taxpayer. I couldn't afford to pay the rents down there and I have a professional full-time job.

I think that they could have made more of a difference to society byu working for a living and creating some form of charity that raided bins and gave out to the poor, instead they made themselves poor and lived off donations and freegan values.
Freeganism is great, fine, go ahead, but what difference were they really making???
They were taking the piss and I think they gave freegans a bad name.

They couldn't do that though VS because raiding bins is illegal. Apparently it's also illegal to give away out of date food. Considering that you can quite safely use veg that's two or more weeks past its "use by date", I think that's mental.

Oh is Freeganism like a proper thing then? I thought that curly haired pube-discarding man had made it up.

A lot of the foods that were thrown away were thrown away because of packaging, they couldve done a deal with supermarkets etc to have anything that was going to be thrown away due to packaging, they coudlve campaigned to make it legal to take things as logn as disclaimers were signed for illnesses, they could do all manner of things to 'work' for God, I dont see how working for God concludes handing out pieces of paper on the streets asking for donations, who exactly are they helping???

Not good for the trees either, all that wasted paper.

freeganism

I felt very sorry for their son.

I completely agree that the whole "working for God" thing is dubious to say the least. I just object to the view that anyone who chooses to opt out of society is de facto a sponger.

How did they afford to buy a new campervan?

And I wonder why their son only started school two weeks before the programme was made.

I dont think that anyone who opts out of society is a sponger, I think that this particular family were, as usual with channel 4, possibly the worst case to be put forward for freeganism I've ever seen.

I think the mother made stupid demands on a nine year old girl, it can't be particularly healthy to leave a bowl of milk with rice krispies in it all day and then eat it, even if it's been in the fridge, and there are many ways we can all cut down our consumerisn and become more ecofriendly without going to live on cloud cuckoo land.

I actually think freeganism is a great ideal, and the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act in the USA should be passed as law over here and maybe make a small difference, rather than no difference at all.

ah so freegans dont necessarily have to be jesus christians - I get it now - so you can get freegans that arent so radical!

Yes, and if you read that freeganism site you'll see they believe in doing things for the community and each other, other than handing out pieces of paper about a 'radical new way of living'.
There is agreat deal about being a freegan and not a freeloader in their ideals.

I saw that so the family chosen were not the best examples bet some freegans are raging at how they have possibly been portrayed!!

standing up a bit for the freegan lady - I am always annoyed on wife swap when the family won't follow the new wife's rules in the second week. She had been doing things their way for the first week. Darcy knew the rules - she could have finished her rice krispies in the morning. Instead she laughed at the woman, threw them in the sink and then went and got some sweets directly against what she had been told - again laughing at her. I can see why the "wife" felt she should make a point. Then to cry over eating half a slightly overipe banana was a bit pathetic really. It made the woman look really mean but actually I agreed with her when she said that Darcy was a bit spoiled. I think she just got in a bit deep and didn't know when to give up with other people's children. It was like Darcy had never before had any follow through on consequences.

they got £2000 for appearing on the show thats where the laptop came from i think.....i think darcy was a later baby born into wealth after 3 sons she was idolised wasnt she?

Darcy's dad and brothers stood by and encourgaed her to eat the banana, I dont see how that is spoilt, I've seen many a show where during the rule change that sort of thing would have been totally ignored and the 'wife' would have been told to fuck off, the dad even ate his supper for breakfast.

As for the laptop, maybe yes it was bought with the £2000 they got from the show, but how are they paying for their internet connection??? Donations?

Also thinking back to the woman getting upset that her sons dental treatment had to be paid for, I can totally understand her point, her son is a child and as such is entitled to free dental treatment, the father of the other family is a grown adult that got the exact same treatment for free, which does pose the question, how?

Yes, Dental care is free to those who dont work, those who dont work, claim benefits and are means tested for their exemption card, he would not have been able to get free dental care without having been means tested and found exempt, which means at some point he surely must have claimed benefits??? Certainly sounds more freeloader than freegan to me.

Darcy's dad and brothers stood by and encourgaed her to eat the banana, I dont see how that is spoilt, I've seen many a show where during the rule change that sort of thing would have been totally ignored and the 'wife' would have been told to fuck off, the dad even ate his supper for breakfast.

As for the laptop, maybe yes it was bought with the £2000 they got from the show, but how are they paying for their internet connection??? Donations?

Also thinking back to the woman getting upset that her sons dental treatment had to be paid for, I can totally understand her point, her son is a child and as such is entitled to free dental treatment, the father of the other family is a grown adult that got the exact same treatment for free, which does pose the question, how?

Yes, Dental care is free to those who dont work, those who dont work, claim benefits and are means tested for their exemption card, he would not have been able to get free dental care without having been means tested and found exempt, which means at some point he surely must have claimed benefits??? Certainly sounds more freeloader than freegan to me.

missed it, is it repeated?

ohhh i was ironing whilst watching i didnt realise it was the dad who had the brace ....i thought he was a bit creepy and monontonous almost hypnotic......and do the 'donations' pay road tax and fuel on these vehicles?

Yeah, on saturdays I think, or it's on channel 4 on demand.

I don't think they are particularly environmentally friendly either, which got to me, it's all very well and good being distraught that thrid world countries are starving and deciding not to pay for food because of this (still think campaigning for laws to be changed about food waste would be better), but surely driving that campervan to school isnt very good for the environment? and what about chemical toilets? do they do damage? Sure they're happy to eat things thrown away but they aren't thinking a jot about animals when they take eggs that arent free range etc
I could go on, but I'll just get more annoyed!

Only saw a bit, but I rather liked the millionaires. They seemed quite sensible and put forward some good arguments in relation to making a child responsible for consumerism. Was a bit gobsmacked at spending £10k on children but then if you have it, not necessarily sure that there is a virtue in parsimony.

Also quite like the freegan mother, she did go a bit far with Darcey but admitted she had got herself into one of those positions where she just could not back down. Hated the freegan father: "god made mad, man made money, money made man mad" - what utter rubbish and I would have been hard pressed to avoid hitting him at that point.

I agree that too foten during the rule swap thing that the families often don't get into the spirit of the show and actually change but I did hear Darcy's brother and dad discuss briefly that they had to encourage Darcy to eat the banana because it was the rules imposed.

I will be honest liking the millionaire family surprised me, the Freegan wife commented on the fact they never had a cleaner like I said before was she annoyed or impressed???