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Location: UK
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,602
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Big Brother's New Low
It was Mark Twain who once said "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.". It seems that few people in this world are more aware of this recipe for success than Endemol, the creators of the Big Brother series.
It should be no secret to anyone close to me that I absolutely and categorically detest the Big Brother programme and the way that it swallows up entire channels and news programmes for weeks at a time. It never ceases to amaze me that serious news programmes lower themselves to report on the events of what is happening "in the Big Brother house". Oh, grow up!
The simple fact is, I believe, that if Big Brother didn't court controversy then people would realise just how dull a format it really is. I'll stake all that I own that this series will have something controversial about it. It has to have in order to retain ratings.
For me, Big Brother symbolises and reflects everything that is wrong with today's television and indeed today's society. It is, it seems to me, designed for those people who have no talent other than that for sitting on their backside and existing. It's for those people who crave fame and success, but have no idea how to get it through any legitimate or mature means. Such is the immaturity of their craving, they are willing to show the world just how pointless, ignorant, and selfish they really are. In fact, they want you to applaud them for it, and you do. In fact, you even pay for the pleasure of doing so.
New Depths of Despair
However, as much as I detest Big Brother, Endemol has managed to sink to a new all time low with their new "game" called "Donor Show".
If you are human, or over the age of five, you may want to stop reading now. The concept of the game being that there will be three people, each requiring a new kidney to combat their illness. The dying "donor" will choose the one person who is worthy of living, based on chats with the family and friends of each 'contestant'. Of course, the brain-dead viewers will be able to play their part in being the hand of God, by sending in "advice" via text message. How cheap must human life have become for it to be worthy of advice via a text message?
I'm not easily shocked at all, and I detest the "ban it" mentality, but when I read this news article, I was bloody angry. I was angry at Endemol for having such scant regard for human life. I was angry at the laws that allow programmers such freedom, and I was angry that we live in a society that has fallen so deep into its own festering bowels that this could be considered as entertainment by anyone worthy of drawing breath.
I would like to believe that the British would never allow such inhumane television to infest our screens, but then I never thought I would see the day that people would willingly sit and watch other people sleep or move about a house. I did hear a surgeon here saying that it couldn't work here because of the various factors used to determine who is best suited to receive a kidney, based on sound medical grounds. What has especially infuriated me is Endemol publicly stating that they have devised the programme in order to highlight the shortage of donors. That, apparently, should make it all seem more tasteful. How low will these people really go, I wonder?
You can
read more about this outrage on the BBC website.
I have now vowed to myself that the day the UK lowers itself to this standard is the day that I will cease to watch television for good. I simply could not sit back and do nothing. It would also be a clear statement to me that television has little left to offer me as an adult.