I have been paying zero attention to the whole Jade Goody/Shilpa Shetty/Celebrity Big Brother dust-up, mostly because English things are boring (except David Beckham). But after reading this piece about villainess Goody's mental health problems in the wake of her racist remarks about Shetty and the subsequent media backlash, I'm sort of wishing I had been paying attention. Cause I'm obviously missing a hell of a row.
For those who haven't been paying attention either, here's the gist: England, like America, has these dopey reality shows, including a version of Celebrity Big Brother, a program in which a group of losers lives together in a house, and generally gets on each other's nerves until everyone's been voted out except one person (like Survivor but without the coconuts). Among the participants on this show, which is apparently wildly popular in Britain, were Bollywood It-girl Shilpa Shetty and professional reality-show-participant Goody (this bitch apparently literally makes a living just being on dumb TV shows). Goody, already reviled in Britain (a 2002 poll named her 4th Worst Person in Britain), further lowered herself in the public's esteem by participating in the racist bullying of Shetty on-air, mocking Shetty's accent, and calling her names like "Shilpa Fuckawala." Other cast-members, for the record, also had a hand in teasing Shetty, who was reportedly reduced to tears on several occasions. However, Goody became the focus of the public's outrage, and was finally voted off the show by the audience.
Afterward, Goody tried apologizing, and even spouted a few tears of her own for the benefit of the cameras. But the public backlash has been so intense that a "shocked and depressed" Goody has had to be put under the care of doctors.
This just goes to show what I've always said - reality TV is going to be the death of us all. I'm serious about this. Shows like Survivor, Big Brother and the rest - what do they do but foment discord between people? The whole point of these shows is to put people in situations where basic civility is tossed out the window in the name of meaningless competition. And when you put folks like Jade Goody, a woman who suffers from obvious social, if not mental, retardation in such a position - well, it seems to me like you're just asking for it. It seems to me that, if some kind of hateful, racist stuff doesn't break out, that would have to be considered a miracle.
I think the public is wrong to attack Jade Goody in this. She's just an innocent victim, too stupid to know any better. The people who deserve our scorn are the TV executives who greenlight this garbage. Because they want the turmoil, and are willing to absorb the bad publicity as long as it helps ratings. To me, people who claim to be outraged about this stuff, yet persist in watching it, are the worst kind of hypocrites. They should exercise their choice by changing the channel (or, to use another example, clicking to another blog). If enough people do that, then these shows won't be on the air, and the societal decay they contribute to will be slowed at least a bit. Then, after we've gotten rid of the crappy shows, we can turn our attention to the Jade Goodys of the world, and give them what they so richly deserve - a spot on The View right next to Rosie O'Donnell.
