I wasn’t sure if I should call this article / posting: ‘I’m so glad that Big Brother is over’ or perpetuating rubbish’

Big Brother was conceived by John de Mol - a Dutch media tycoon and billionaire. In 2005 Forbes magazine stated that he was one of the 500 richest people in the world. The Show’s name comes from George Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984. In the book Big Brother is positioned as the all-seeing leader of the dystopian (authoritarian or totalitarian form of government) Oceania.

I personally still have not fully understood the attraction of this programme. Maybe the following can help regarding why I believe people watch Big Brother.

1. Some people are bored and want to see a reflection of themselves on TV
2. Reality TV brings home an element of real-life
3. The public make the stars! (e.g; Dragons Den & The Apprentice)
4. Some people believe that their lives are sad and actively seek glamour
5. Escapism is what life is really what all about
6. Conditioning by the media
7. Forced subversive fascination based on topical life discussions
8. Fear of alienation
9. Conditioned to watch a grey box on return from watching a grey box at the office.
10. Today’s media has nothing better to do than to perpetuate endless stories of lust, image, distraction, false-fame and wasted energy.

Maybe I’m being unkind and serious psychologists probably view such programmes as part of some ‘great human experiment’. Maybe some people are fascinated by the interplay for example, positioning, greed, envy and alienation by the housemate. Does this mean if the world ended tomorrow, so would any form of descency ?

One could argue that today our behaviour as a society is not so different from the actions of the housemate – Our neighbours starve, yet we stare into our TV’s escaping the reality of what is around us.

We need to consider who are the people making real money on Reality TV programmes – at our expensive.I suggest that they are:

- TV Producers / Co’s – typically reality TV development & idea costs are low
- Communication companies – Mobile / telephone airtime operators
- The Press – Selling stories

Post show, many of the exhouse mates return to their previous lives – it almost appears that their limited exposure to possible fame and fortune is based on ‘sucking out’ their goodness and then leaving them on the wayside.

My biggest issue is with the impact that these programmes have on children and what they can potentially absorb as being acceptable socially.

Just as one reality TV programme came to an end, another won appeared - The X-Factor returned to screens the next day. NB The public amassed in their hundreds of thousands to seek a short-cut to stardom.

I’m now left to conclude that Reality TV is a bit like gardening or weeding - you pull out one weed and then more appear! It’s up to us to decide what is beautiful and not corrupt our society.

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