Isn't It Romantic?
It's a gorgeous day at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Somewhere mid-way through the 3rd inning, a low flying plane tows a banner pleading, "Stacey, will you marry me?-Joe." The crowd-understandably bored with yet another year of Cub futility-begins to chant, "Say yes Stacey!" And Stacey, with 35,000 people looking on, laughs nervously and chokes out the affirmative. Is she uncertain, or simply overwhelmed by the setting? Who knows. But the poor girl never had a chance. She was blindsided.
Are Those Headlights In Your Eyes, Dear?
You've seen it happen at holiday gatherings, parties, even at weddings (which is wrong for so many reasons). There's just something unsettling about public venues being used to ask this most intimate of questions. Sure it seems romantic, family and friends gathered around as you profess your desire to spend the rest of your life with another, but in reality, it seems more an act of coercion than love.
How is an unsuspecting woman supposed to react in those situations? Does she truly have the freedom to say no, or even maybe? And shouldn't the decision to marry be made as freely as possible? The Public Proposal is the height of passive aggressive behavior. It is stacking the deck so that any response but a yes is seen as cruel and unfeeling. "How could She say no in front of all those people. He must feel awful; and after he went to so much trouble to get the Midget Synchronized Swimming Team."
