Tonight, the ABC late night “news” (and I use that word with a giggle) program ”Nightline” is airing the totally pointless but probably entertaining face-off between Ed Young, pro-marriage pastor of Grapevine’s Fellowship Church, and Ned Biderman, founder and CEO of AshleyMadison.com, the website for married folks who want to hook up with other married folks. Young maintains that (hetero) lifelong monogamy should be the celebrated societal standard; Biderman counters that evidence on the ground clearly indicates that monogamy is not, for many people, a realistic model.
I’m sure they both make good points, but that’s not really what this is about. Both Young and Biderman are selling a product – Fellowship Church ministries and AshleyMadison.com services, respectively – under the guise of having a serious debate about the possibilities and the limits of monogamy. Given that the show was shot at the Grapevine church, and given that Americans love to see philanderers pilloried while engaging privately in high rates of philandery themselves, I’d say Biderman is at a distinct disadvantage. Let the bedsheets fly!
