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Underground > Head Shop >

Professional irresponsibility = public irrationality?

  
 
Tezcatlipoca
11:54 / 20.07.02
I spent yesterday morning sitting in a local cafe, a cup of coffee sitting quietly at my side, the remnants of a full English breakfast lying before me, and my eyes skimming the page as I absorbed the Guardian.

Then what do I suddenly come across? What else but more of this Big Brother tripe that seems to have our nation's unimaginative enslaved to their television screens. But this article was slightly different to most as it actually succeeded in getting first my attention, and then my anger.

As you can see by the link, it refers to the near vilification to which one of the contestants seems to be subjected by the assembled gutter press. Normally I'd disregard such nonsense, particularly if it's perpetuated and/or advocated by tabloid papers; but something about this situation just jarred with me.

My concern is not necessarily for this girl - it could just as easily be any poor chump - but about the frightening grip crap such as this seems to have upon some people. For example:

crowds outside the Big Brother studios held banners reading: "Jade, go to hell" and, quite remarkably, "Slaughter the pig"

And

On July 3, Jade's mother, Jackie Budden, told the Sun that she feared her daughter would get lynched

And, even more frighteningly

a 15-year-old schoolgirl was beaten up for supposedly looking like her

I appreciate that I'm on extremely rocky ground here since I not only have never watched this rubbish but don't have a TV, but regardless, it seems as though such professional irresponsibility on the part of the press is resulting in a terrifying degree of public irrationality. I'm curious as to what other 'lithers thoughts are on this, both specifically - in the sense of the slander towards these contestants; and generally - in the amount of power the press seems to have over some of the less objective members of the public.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
13:51 / 20.07.02
Can I win a special prize for being the first to bring up the News of the World's paedophile address lists scandal of last year?
 
 
Shortfatdyke
06:19 / 21.07.02
lada - the 'paedophile' list had some terrible results, and the newspaper didn't, from what i recall, ever apologise to the people who were beaten up/chased out of their homes for looking vaguely like someone on the list, for being a paedeotrician, or just for being the local wierdo. but there is public concern over sex offenders.

i haven't watched the new 'big brother', i have heard it being discussed on the radio, or, rather, some revolting personal remarks being made about the women in the house. it seems to be a complete free-for-all in this way, a pantomime with a nastier edge. but surely the contestants knew that? what began as something that was seen as an experiment (although, having lived in numerous flatshares, i wasn't sure if i could learn anything new from it) is now purely 'boo-hiss' entertainment, and no doubt the housemates are chosen for their ability to provide that entertainment. as for the people who hang around outside the house with banners, i think it's pathetic. then again, is it any more pathetic than what i do with my life? (good mood today, as you can tell!)

bring back vanessa feltz and the celebrity big brother, i say! or how about a celebrity criminal one: rose west, peter sutcliffe, myra hindley, shipman, neilsen, thompson and venables..... sorry, got carried away there. the press would love it, though.

but the press has always been 'irresponsible', in that it often presents a view of news/events that is one sided and therefore untruthful - check the american press right now (more than ever), and i certainly remember, for instance, the utter jingoism and lack of questioning regarding the falklands war. then again, it depends on what you think the press is for - and most of it isn't there to be truthful, as far as i can see. it's to record history with a political slant. the big brother thing just seems pointless.
 
 
Shortfatdyke
06:27 / 21.07.02
having read the article a bit more thoroughly now, i can see another angle here. seems like fatphobia, misogyny, a little bit of racism and class hatred are all playing their part in the case of jade. in which case, the press are on to a winner!
 
 
Cat Chant
07:24 / 21.07.02
It's just lucky she's not queer, eh?
 
 
w1rebaby
10:59 / 21.07.02
crowds outside the Big Brother studios held banners reading: "Jade, go to hell" and, quite remarkably, "Slaughter the pig"

I'm having trouble commenting about this because I just can't imagine what could bring someone to wave banners like that about someone that they'd seen in Big Brother. I mean, make a banner, go out to the studio with it, wave it. Why would you do that? How could that person possibly have offended you that much? I suspect quite severe mental problems. To an extent I can understand people attacking "paedophiles" they've seen in the paper, but not this.

The idea of the Sun leading a campaign against her is even worse when you consider they employ Richard Littlejohn.

I can see how you might not like Jade. To the limited extent that I engage with the characters, I think she's two-faced, wannabe-manipulative and arrogantly offensive (she certainly doesn't think much of queers). However, the dear departed Tim was much worse - just better-educated, male, less brash and not fat.

Hate figures are good for papers, and if you're going to pick one, it's best to pick one with characteristics that mean a proportion of your audience will hate them more. A black rapist is better than a rapist.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
11:00 / 21.07.02
I must confess myself to be bewildered by all of this. I don't watch the show (first one moderately entertaining, second one okay to have on in the background, third one ARRRRGHHH!) so all my knowledge of it is gleaned secondhand. I don't know what the hell this poor woman's done to deserve such vicious treatment apart from being chubby and a bit dim.

This is as pathetic as it is irresponsible. We're being asked to hate this woman-- not to ignore her, not to switch off the telly, not to watch something else-- to hate her, as if she'd commited some sort of grevious offence. "Slaughter the pig"? WTF?
 
 
Mourne Kransky
10:46 / 22.07.02
Glad to see Big Brother breaching the Headshop...

As the whole juggernaut is now about to grind to a halt, it would seem that there is a sudden rush to "professional responsibility" re the much maligned Jade Goody.

1) Much more favourable public response to jabberwocky Jade evident
in discussing BB with friends and colleagues over the past few days. Coinciding with...

2) I gather there is a turn around in the tabloid take on Jade and at least one red top is now actively campaigning for her to win.

3) Watching the Sunday night Big Brother, where a variety of psychologists opine about the motivations and performance of the housemates, it seemed clear to me that considerable spin was being brought to bear to shore up Jade's chances of winning the whole thing.

*Alex was acknowledged as a likely winner but heavy emphasis placed on how moody he has been when not "adored" by at least one other housemate. This is the guy whose "Take Me" video included his complaint that, when his big modelling break with Aramni launched on 9/11, the world was watching something else. How dare they!

* Jonny and *Kate both identified as skilful players of the game and this conceit imbued with Machiavellian, cynical nuance. It is a game and I don't see why trying to play it effectively is such a character flaw or behavioural infraction.

* Jade more or less whitewashed - yes, she was a bitch to several other people in the house from time to time buy we were shown her apparent, brief contrition and reminded of her spunky, unsinkable resilience in the face of other people being as unpleasant to her as she has been to many of them.

I was left with the distinct impression of a change in the spin the BB editors are putting on Jade, coinciding with the press painting her as the underdog, setting her up as a Cinderella figure just in time for the big vote. While the other three remianing brotherettes were given, I felt, an unduly harsh and less positive crit.

Thing is, I don't mind if Jade does win the whole thing. Really wish
a woman would win it, if nothing else. I wouldn't want to live with her but then I'd have strangled Alex, Tim or Sandy with my bare hands long long ago.

It is all a fascinating study in how the meeja shape popular perceptions though. They don't report the popular response to these reality-tv-puppets but lead it and we follow. The "Slaughter the Pig" banner and similar outrageous expressions of fattism, sexism and intellectual snobbery are even more unpleasant when you look at the context.

This level of gross personal insult is encouraged and fostered by the meeja, to feed their money-making hype, so that there are memorable Friday night banners for Davina to point out and shocking headlines to sell the red tops.

I find BB engrossing but It's only a game show [sic]. Ben Elton's book "Dead Famous" isn't all that good but it does do a marvellous job of imagining the extremes to which the BB format could be driven to keep interest afloat and lubricate the franchise. Murder, for one. Group sex, for another.

I am almost ashamed of the many Jadeisms we have shared and scoffed at over the past few weeks. Almost... Surely she was hamming it up the time she appeared not to understand how sun versus shade operated and Alex had to explain by holding his hand over her face. And her great line about the genesis of the Second World War: "Did the English and the Germans not get on then?"

But drifting into material more suited to the BB thread in a lower forum. It'll all be over soon, one way or another.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
19:44 / 26.07.02
Staggeringly offensive sketch on Graham Norton last night, which I saw the end of last night while waiting for 'Scrubs', but that's enough of Dustin Hoffman pretending to be a Scottish fireman. No, I'm talking about Graham's impersonation of Jade by putting on one of those big sumo suits and running around shrieking "What's a minger?"

But my ice-cream man says that he made a fortune selling ice-cream to the thousands of incredibly stupid people who have such empty lives that they're there all day for when the last few people leave tonight.

Over at www.toostupidtobepresident.com they've got a shockwave doll of Dubya that spouts some of his more vacuous statements. Wonder how long it would take someone who could be bothered to do a Jade one. Based on what everyone else has been saying about her I'm voting she's really an evil criminal genius.
 
 
Ganesh
19:48 / 06.08.02
'Big Brother' is over for another year but, in the wake of the 'Slaughter the Pig' stuff, I'm returning to this thread because I'm interested in the idea of responsibility; specifically, how much responsibility we should (collectively and individually) assume on behalf of other people.

I can completely see why the tabloid reaction (and u-turn) to Jade was seen as 'irresponsible' but I've heard the same criticisms levelled at, for example, her fellow housemate Kate, for failing to prevent her removing all her clothes during a drunken game of Strip Monopoly(?) There seemed to be a general sense that Kate, as another female, was responsible for ensuring Jade's dignity remained intact.

Within our society, the boundaries of responsibility seem increasingly ill-defined, shifting. If an adult, thoroughly briefed on the possible consequences, consents to an experience as bizarrely intrusive as 'Big Brother', has he assumed responsibility for all that occurs thereafter? Legally? Morally? Where do the responsibilities of the media lie? In providing (cruel) entertainment to a hungry audience or in 'protecting' a vulnerable (if consenting) few?
 
 
the Fool
00:50 / 07.08.02
Possibly the media is as easily manipulated as the public by all of this. As irresponsible as it thinks it can get away with. Just as the public will be as irresponsible as it thinks it can get away with before being exposed as cruel.

I think that there seems to be an increasing undertone of cruelty in the Big Brother (UK) concept. Less likeable character, more extreme conditions. Less about characters you like than ones you don't. In a attempt to provoke the same hightened reactions from an increasingly jaded audience.
 
 
Ganesh
09:57 / 07.08.02
But saying something is "irresponsible" implies that they have overstepped the bounds of responsibility - and I'm wondering, in the case of the BB contestants, the media and ourselves, what those boundaries are, and why.
 
 
w1rebaby
13:21 / 07.08.02
G: I can completely see why the tabloid reaction (and u-turn) to Jade was seen as 'irresponsible' but I've heard the same criticisms levelled at, for example, her fellow housemate Kate, for failing to prevent her removing all her clothes during a drunken game of Strip Monopoly(?) There seemed to be a general sense that Kate, as another female, was responsible for ensuring Jade's dignity remained intact.

I don't think this is a reasonable expectation of responsibility. For a start it seems to rest on a very dubious sort of assumed "sisterhood" that just isn't there. Furthermore, I don't think anyone is obliged to stop someone else making a fool of themselves. It might be a nice thing to do, but we don't have a responsibility to be nice to each other.

Rambling (or "exploring the issue") ahead...

Okay, the degree to which we have "responsibilities" to each other at all is hard to judge. There's your social-contract-type societal responsibilities, but we're moving beyond those here.

I think the problem a lot of people have with newspapers is that they have clear power over the lives of others, and if you are going to exercise that power in a negative way you need some sort of justification that's proportionate to the effect, and "it's funny" doesn't really cut it. But that power is derived from the individuals who believe it. I've got far more contempt for individual people waving "slaughter the pig" placards than I do for the writers in the Sun. Nobody was forcing them to jump on that bandwagon. Newspapers have power because they know they can create bandwagons, and stupid people will jump on them, but the individuals are all responsible too.

So I suppose the basic responsibility is to use what power you have in a justified manner. Kate's level of power in possibly being able to stop Jade stripping off (which could have a negative aspect anyway, in that people's decisions to do things should be respected unless harmful to others) was relatively negligible.

I was hearing last night from bk about a show with Anna Nicole Smith on it in the US - tagline "it's not meant to be funny, but it is" - which seems to be basically all about humiliating the now-overweight and pill-popping ANS, as she mugs and begs for attention. It sounds like knowing car crash TV, like Tara Para Tomkinson on the Frank Skinner show but every week and deliberate.
 
  
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