I was watching My Kitchen Rules last night and it made me so cranky that I had to write this quick post. Two of the contestants spent most of the night saying that they hoped the people cooking were going to fail. Then each time they made a mistake or didn't do well there were shots of these contestants smiling and giggling.
What is this all about??
It makes me so mad!!
I know its only TV and its all probably scripted and each contestant is turned into a caricature so that the viewers are encouraged to 'love to hate them' etc, however I don't think that's enough of an excuse to sit there and blatantly wish for others to fail.
We have also been watching a lot of the Winter Olympics and it made me wonder what sort of reaction an athlete would get if when they were interviewed before an event they said they wished that their opponents would fall over, or miss a jump so that they had more chance of winning. Again, I know that there is a difference between a reality cooking show and the Olympics, however when these attitudes are presented on TV as acceptable what does it say about our culture and what messages does it convey about how we should be relating to each other?
Television has a huge influence on, and is also a reflection of our society. It also worries me that children are watching these shows and if they don't have an irate mother like me yelling at the TV to stop being so rude and revolting, will children think that this is an OK way to talk about others?
Thank goodness that there is one kind and positive contestant to watch - however interestingly she is being labelled as kooky. Why is it kooky to be kind and to look for positives?
I guess the positive (because I am definitely kooky!) from this is that it makes us think and react and hopefully notice how 'not right' it feels to hear and see people acting in this way towards others.
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Vanna xx
If the people who control what is on television would only stop and think about what is really important, instead of ratings and dollars, maybe there would be something worth watching.
ReplyDeleteHello Vanna, we recently had our Foxtel subscription cancelled as I was just getting increasingly disappointed with the messages being sent out to young people. I hate seeing all the 'mean girl' behaviour with the media. Even my eight year old daughter pointed out in the newspapers that rating women's dresses and their appearance on a score out of ten was just 'mean'. It' s one of the reasons I love submerging myself in the culture of the past as that sort of lack of empathy behaviour wasn't as prevalent. It's so interesting when you study magazines from the past and see how without the celebrity focus of today, how many more interesting articles there are. And of course Charlotte's Dawson's tragic death is a reminder of how badly it can impact on people. I agree totally with your rant. :)xx
ReplyDeleteYes - empathy is so important Josephine. Perhaps even simple old good manners - that's something that we could bring back from the past. Vxx
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