Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Reality TV is damaging society, says Humphrys

  • 28-08-2004 10:12am
    #1
    pork99
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,746 ✭✭✭


    John Humphrys say it all. The Big Brother phenomenon reminds me of a horrible thing I used to do when i was 8 or 9 years old. I would catch as large a spider and as large a beetle as I could find and trap them in a glass jar together. My idea was if you kept them like that long enough you could enjoy watching them fight each other to the death. I don't think it ever worked. Anyway I grew out of that eventually.
    So-called reality television - why do I say so-called? Because reality implies authenticity and honesty. And whatever some of this stuff may be, it is not authentic and it is not honest.

    This is not just bad television in the sense that it's mediocre, pointless, puerile even. It's bad because it is damaging.

    Programmes that are recognisably reality television make up a relatively small proportion of the output, but their influence has been out of all proportion to their number. They have infected the mainstream of the medium.

    What about the effect of reality television on society as a whole? It does a number of things. It erodes the distinction between the public and the private, which is a profoundly important aspect of our culture.

    Much more worrying is its coarsening effect. That's partly because of the sheer vulgarity. But it's even more that it turns human beings into freaks for us to gawp at.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3606206.stm

    http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,12123,1292725,00.html

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/27/uhumf.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/27/ixportaltop.html

    Discuss


Comments

  • #2
    Cabaal
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 28,536 Mod ✭✭✭✭Cabaal


    Reality TV is a waste of air time and imho appeals to the lowest form of society tbh
    what a waste of money...
    Only good thing is it messes up people's lives after they've played there part in the little show...


  • #3
    BuffyBot
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,924 ✭✭✭✭BuffyBot


    imho appeals to the lowest form of society tbh

    Be careful you don't fall off that horse, you're at one hell of a height up there...


  • #4
    Flukey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭Flukey


    Well the whole Big Brother thing is ridiculous. The very idea of putting people into a house and watching them all week sounds totally crazy and that is what it is. Why not go next door and peer into your neighbours house for a week and then tell one of them to get out? The best thing to have ever happened in one of these shows was in the Irish one, Cabin Fever, when the boat sank. How very appropriate.


Advertisement