An appeal to the
savage
If reality television
had an audience like me, that genre of entertainment would have long since died
out like the dodo, never to be revived again, except for a retrospective on one
of the darkest ages of humanity, where the surfeit of education and enlightenment,
along with significant technological innovation, has made our behaviour
resemble that of wild animals driven by nothing but survival instinct.
Readers of my blog
are likely aware that I am hardly a fan of these unscripted interactions that
caricature the worst of a few for the spectacle of the many. I have allowed
myself the occasional glimpse into talent shows, experiencing some surprise or
shock, especially from the unexpected gems that can bring tears of sadness or
joy.
Our escape is not
enviable
Everything I observe
is usually through snippets and playback on YouTube, because something has
crept into my social media feed, or it has been granted more importance in the
news than is ever necessary, considering everything else happening in the
world. Yet, these are seen as an escape or distraction, and somehow these fleeting
shots of the dehumanisation of our civilisation have become hot topics of
public engagement.
By now, you may have
realised that one aspect of this reality television series encompasses every
variation of the Big Brother shows, whether featuring celebrities or everyday
people. At times, one might think that the money paid to celebrities to subject
themselves to scrutiny, or the prize offered to public participants, lures them
into this macabre theatre where humans are caged for titillation and
entertainment. It is popular culture, sadly.
There is more to
this—a quest for a spectrum of notoriety, alongside the cohesion or dispersal
of virtue, expressed in word, deed, contest, chicanery, or some other
unwholesome thing. People have gone on to forge careers from either fame or
infamy displayed in these settings.
This theatre of the
worst
In my view, Big
Brother represents the absolute worst of everything; the house is, in fact, a
cage. The 24-hour camera focuses on everyone, with edited versions of the
sensational and controversial being spewed from a broadcast drainpipe, reeking
of sickening human waste on our televisions.
It contains every
element of an animal zoo, where curiosities taken from their natural habitat
are brought to a location for our fascination. I have long since eschewed
visiting zoological gardens or sea life centres that are nowhere near the sea.
I see in Big Brother
a schemed setup that gathers many people with issues and problems better kept
from view—opinions that should barely be invited into thought, fragile egos,
those too easily offended, and others with rather forthright views considered
too confrontational for the baseline of the insipid inclusivity that defies
essential common sense.
Imagine placing a
chicken, a fox, a cat, a mouse, a crocodile, a venomous snake, a mongoose, a
lion, a deer, an elephant, a horse, and a hyena in the same cage and observing
what occurs. Like prey and predator, the vulnerable and the inviolable, the
aggressive and the docile, the fearful and the bold—every characteristic on
display, all while the intervention against nature punishes each animal for
acting out its known role.
Utterly thin-skinned
lionhearts
Everyone knows that
Big Brother does not present a paradise of easy coexistence, and this is where
it gains its gawping audience, peering through the cages to observe examples of
themselves portrayed by others. It is utterly, utterly loathsome, but then,
each to their own.
The current Celebrity
Big Brother, which features a range of forgettable has-beens, has invaded my
timeline, leaving me to wonder how people fall apart at simple criticism of
their abilities. The truth cannot be told about too many individuals who, due to
their lack of communication and basic social skills, take offense at a look or
a comment. The total absence of nuance or irony in a situation that
participants have willingly subscribed to shows how ill-prepared they are for
the kind of life many of us face.
Is that all he said?
Or is that what they did? Then, there are many more questions along that line
of thinking within the context of feigned political correctness, orchestrated
niceness, and playing to the gallery.
Big Brother is both a
reflection of a microcosm of the basest instincts of its participants and, for
those of us engaged, either explicitly or by scant observation, we have become
so civilised that we have lost all means of understanding what the advancement
of civilisation truly means. Our brains are better stimulated by this tragedy
of the jungle in a zoo of humans.
