This image records how the paying public in the Eighteenth century visited Bedlem mental Hospital for entrtainment, to be amused and shocked at the behaviour of its inmates.
In the danger of repeating myself, I am still appaled by the progress of Big Brother 7. Starting with Shabaz and going all the way up to the producers. The idea of the programme is to expose the psychology of the contestants.
I AM fascinated with social psychology, more so than whether any hanky panky takes place.
But I don't see that people out of adolesence should be expected to deal with disturbed behaviour, and when I saw Shabaz mugging as a spastic person to illusttarte his use of the word imbecile, well . . . . . . I have worked with people with cerebral palsy, and they have as much going on inside as you and me. Playing tit for tat with stigmas is just not on.
It also touches on something I have learnt is poison to the social compact - paranoia. It's more contagious than syphilis. My neighbour upstairs [ever wondered if I'm house bound?] since I accidently opened a letter of his, doesn't trust that I'm not spying on him. I've recently been accused of signing for the delivery of a summons, and knowing something about why his front door lock doesn't work properly.
Now I don't trust him.
If this blog disappears, look out for news that an idiot with a red nose and too much eye shadow was found stabbed in his bed.
There's a lot in the media about the shallowness of reality tv stars, Chantelle for example, but as the Big Brother house is on display, any kind of interior life, any dissembling is seen as some kind of sinister witholding, being two-faced, on a task, etc, etc. The openess of Shabaz's behaviour seems to be taken as proof of it's triviality, not the display of a behavioural pirhana in a pool of entertainment minnows. Come on Endemol, takes some responsibility!
