Yeah, San Francisco elitist Stephen Fowler is a dick. The villainous Brit from last week's Wife Swap made an ass out of himself by demeaning poor plump Missourian Gayla Long.
I finally watched the show this afternoon. The producers clearly tried
to pair a stereotypical arrogant elitist husband with a stereotypically uneducated
submissive redneck wife. And Fowler and Long were a perfectly combustible mix. But after watching
Fowler, really, I don't think he was wrong about Long. She doesn't like "big words." OK, she's barely literate. She believes "fast-food is America." She has "friends from British" and has 55 "peoples" in her hometown.
But the real bad guy on the show was Long's husband Alan Long, the wife-beater wearing mayor of
Randolph, Missouri. He's a misogynistic asshole.
Alan Long
household chores "skirt work."
Yeah, Stephen Fowler is a prick. But where's the outrage over Alan Long? Stephen Fowler and his wife have apologized. The next apology needs to come from Alan Long.
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I think the Longs are WONDERFUL people.
That Fowler was one of the cruelist most pompous RAGS that I have ever seen.
I have to say "TYPICAL BRIT"
I think Alan treated that Fowler's wife with at LEASt dignity. Fowler's cruelty was inexcusable.
ROCK ON ALAN AND FAMILY!!!!
Right, which is why Alan Long behaved in such a racist fashion to the black African teacher of French. Oh, wait, he didn't. He was extremely friendly and receptive to the guy.
Fowler is an overgrown, self-important little boy, and you appear to be one as well.
I get the biggest kick out of "mid westerners" flying the "stars and bars"...hug? I guess it is just a generic symbol which states "hey, look at me. I'm a racist redneck"...
I agree with a lot of what Stephen Fowler said but I feel if he truly was educated and smart he would know how to express his opinions in a respectful manor as his wife did. Ms. Fowler was clearly more civilized and respectful toward the Long family than her husband was toward Gayla. Stephen should take lessons in civility and love from his wife.
Stephen squandered a great opportunity to make real change in the world. Had he put his own ego aside for a week he may have actually made a difference. I am a sustainable community developer by trade and a Wilderness advocate but I do not agree with the way Stephen was presenting his ideas. It is a shame he wasted this opportunity and gave the sustainability community a bad name. We want to be friends with the unsustainable midwesterners not enemies, we need them on our side and treating them the way Mr. Fowler did is not the way to change minds and hearts.
i love the real american who attacks the poster for being a journalist. that kind of funny doesnt come around here since trevro left.
I've been watching "Wife Swap" off and on for a couple of years. Yes, they purposefully put 2 families together who are totally different but in most cases each family walks away learning some valuable lessons. Not in this case. Stephen Fowler has proven himself to be the worse, most obnoxious husband ever seen on the show. He even has a website dedicated to him called Stephenfowlersucks.com, a first for any "Wifeswap" husband. If you check it out you'll find that Fowlers behavior and 15 minutes of fame has totally backfired. The company he worked for had to take down their website. His address and phone numbers were published on the web. He received all kinds of threats. Someone egged his house. Another passed pictures around of him in his neighborhood asking for his neighbors to shun him. For a while a security guard was posted. Even the local San Fransisco media has commented on the story. So basically, his name is mud. Things got soo bad that he finally issued an apology for his actions and admits that his behavior was way out of line. He also stepped down (or was kicked off) from the board of the 2 big environmentalist groups he was a part of. His wifes business has also taken a beating and was forced to change its website. She also issued an apology and says her husband will be getting counseling to correct his attitudes.
Now I agree that he might have been right in his views. But you'd think a guy with all those brains would figure out a way to deal with someone in a respectful manner. You dont change someones ways by insulting them. The American husband might have started out being rude but he later made some changes. Stephen was an ass to the end and I for one, dont believe a word of his apology.
Please check out the Youtube videos of the show. The most interesting is in the final scenes where the couples confront each other and Stephens wife is shown hiding her head in shame for her husbands behavior.
I agree with everything that you wrote here and while I was floored by the way in which Fowler spoke to the wife from Missouri, I felt there was a lot of truth in what he stated. The problem was the arrogant, low-class way in which he stated his views, and the blanket, sweeping generalizations he used.
On the other hand, the Missouri husband was not much better: he was terribly aggressive/obnoxious, he called the new wife "stupid", and he employed sweeping (ignorant) generalizations to define what he thinks America is.
The US is enormous and multi-cultural/faceted and more than just what he sees outside his own doorstep. While "fast-food" might be a big part of the culture where he's from, that's not necessarily the case in other cities, states, and regions.
To have a differing opinion or approach to life or an education is not snobbery or pretentiousness. It's the highly-complex, multi-faceted culture that is ours as Americans. We differ greatly in values and culture from city to city and from coast to coast. We're the land of opportunity and those opportunities normally stem from (a very expensive) college education that our families (as well as ourselves) work hard and sacrifice to provide us with.
And THAT, my dear Mr. Long, is "the American way".
Doesnt anyone realize where Randolph, Missouri is? Randolph is essentially surrounded by Kansas City, Mo. The people in Randolph can literally walk to a city of half a million people and the KC metro area is over 2 million people now. The downright dishonest characterization that this family is living in the middle of no where is just crazy. They are living in what is essentially a town that is really little more than a neighborhood in a major city.
Quite frankly I liked Alan Long because he was at least open to trying new things and admitted that he needed to do some things differently. Maybe I missed it but I did not see a confederate flag. I saw the American flag several times in the show but no confederate one.
Someone in this blog wondered if Alan Long was a racist, from the snippets in the show where they show his kids with the black French teacher he said very complimentary things about the teacher and his passion for teaching. So I dont know where thats comming from.
I know these shows are heavily scripted and edited for effect so I really hope Stephen Fowler isnt as awfull as he seems. The things he was saying to Gayla Long were just terrible. I dont care what your station in life is you dont treat anyone like that.
The more I think about it the conclusion I'm drawing if that this so-called 'reality show' is just as fake as all the rest and they have their character say outrageous stuff just to create buzz. The sad thing is if this is true Stephen Fowler could suffer some real damage over this. I hope he got paid well.
Generally speaking I have found that the assumptions on Wife Swap are incorrect. Yes, most of the time one family is not as educated and worldly as the other but each family could hold their own. As for the Long family, not a chance. Mr. Fowler is correct in his statements that Mrs. Long is uneducated and her two languages are "bad English and Redneck".
As for the Long family; YOU LOST THE WAR!! Take the flag down, it doesn't mean anything anymore. It's not "skirt work", you made the mess, you need to clean it up. Children need structure and education so that when they grow up they are able to become productive members of society. There is nothing more repulsive than a child who walks around screaming, pitching fits and shoving fast food down his face.(which seems to be a spitting image of the Long family)
I do not assume everyone from "The South" is like the Long family. I am a resident of "The South" myself and I enjoy it. I know many well mannered, intelligent and worldly people. I am aware that there are people much like the Long's all over America, and it pains me to think how right Mr. Fowler is. Thanks to fast food, Wal-Mart and useless television shows like Wife Swap, America is only going to get worse.
The Fowler family is right!
Fowler was wrong to model behaviour to his children of humiliating and talking down to another human being for their lack of education, and refusing to speak to her and disallowing his children to do so. He was wrong to say that making more money in a day than she made in a year justified him putting her down in front of his children. He is wrong in thinking that forcing elitist and materialistic pastimes such as fencing onto his children is any better than allowing children to choose paintball.
He is creating another generation of pompous, elitist twits who will do nothing to create unity or compassion in this world. Shame on him and shame on you for trying to justify such behaviour. Wouldn't want to be one of his or your kids!!
What a arrogant, closed minded, pompous prick Fowler is! Screw your "Im more educated than everyone else" cause if you were you would be a father to you children instead of a household figure holder! Your children dont know how to have fun and I hope they hate you when they grow up!!!
My poor small brain cannot cope with big words like "irony," so you'll have to tell me if it's correctly applied in this case--seeing as you're not wrong, either, but you're still a dick.
There is no doubt Fowler was the A-1 ass.Mayor Long was in NO WAY as painful, rude and disrespectful as Fowler. AND Alan learned from his experience whereas the pompous Ass Fowler (who was even worse than Alan Combs), was closed minded and quite immature. His poor kids made it very clear they were NOT happy with their rigorous and unchildlike lifestyle yet Fowler had no percipient knowledge WHO his kids are!The fact he would berate another adult in front of his kids was even MORE evidence he was an idiot!No he wasn't "wrong" HOWEVER he was inhumane, immature and such an ass!Alan show far more class ..."redneck" and all!
Yes Stephen Fowler is a dick!
His comments were uncalled for...it is not right to humiliate another person like that.
However, seeing as the Long's have a confederate flag up in their house, how would they treat someone whom they think is beneath them (for ex. someone from a visible minority)?
Hey fruitcake,
Your disgust for people who use small words (does this include children??) simply demonstrates that you are just as dismissive of ordinary people as this goon. People like you are so uneducated, you don't even understand that your job would not exist if it weren't for millions of Americans who do the work your lazy asterisk won't touch. How important is journalism in the grand scheme of things?? Someone has to work at a power plant so that people can read your drivel. Someone has to make plastic in a chemical complex so that you can pretend you have a real job. If you love Fowler, please just openly state the same things he said, instead of hiding like a coward and attempting to blacklist these folks in Missouri.
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