Monday 6 August 2012

The Problem of Big Brother

It was a moment of weakness, I suppose. Watching Big Brother. It's been years. Years and years since I did.

But you realise the soul-sapping, dehumanising effect of Big Brother.

I don't care if they're gay or straight, transexual or breast-enhanced. I don't care if they're black, Asian or white, Northern or Cockney.

The point is - they're all ghastly. I've watched a programme, the sole aim of which seems to be to make me hate other human beings.

Once, there were sweet people straggling into the Big Brother House - people who'd not gathered what it was for. People who thought it was all a laugh or even a real social experiment. Or, when it was on C4, maybe thought they could genuinely hit the big time of a DIY show or MTV. Now it's a bunch of people, all knowing they're gonna get 5 minutes' fame and the chance to open a car wash in Kidderminster if they win. And yet they go on it, anyway. And it's made me loathe them.And it's not just the "housemates". It means I hate the production team, the company that produces it and the whole useless channel.

Which is some achievement for accidentally watching a programme for three minutes.

3 comments :

  1. It's not so much the winning, it's the encouragement of the sort of behaviour that is all too human in the desire to entertain that gets me. At least, I assume that's the case in Big Brother, which I don't watch. It's certainly the case of a show I've watched bits of in which four brides compete to win a honeymoon. And don't get me started on the elaborate expensive extravaganzas that are now considered essential to...what, exactly? They hardly mark the beginning of a life together, or a new committment or a rite of passage or anything much except that the bride and groom have or can borrow or can extract from family and friends large sums of money.

    Anyway, these brides are positively encouraged to be rude and nasty about their competitors' Big Days. "OK, so that's your opinion. And now what would you say behind her back?" Very human, but not to be encouaged.

    Give me the shows that start with some housing problem - a leaky roof, a first home purchase - and ends with everyone happy. It's also unrealistic, but much more pleasant.

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  2. I've never watched Big Brother?

    Since Big Brother is watching us all day, every day, eyes following us via CCTV wherever we go. Even country lanes are no longer safe as isolated houses install CCTV and all sorts of speed sensors and camera's are installed.

    I check the bathroom carefully daily, because, while I'm an exhibitionist, I prefer to know who I'm exhibiting too.

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  3. I wonder how effective it all is. We don't have as much CCTV as it appears the UK does (if you can believe half you read), but we have some, and periodically the local news programs show a grainy video of some robber terrorizing a convenience store clerk, and really, I wouldn't recognize my nearest and dearest on those, in the extremely unlikely event they suddenly decided to hold up a convenience store. All I can ever see is a vaguely human-shaped form in dark clothing with something dark on the head (Hat? Hoody?) and waving something in one hand.

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