BB: Real Britain?
- 18 Jan 07, 04:38 PM
Jermaine Jackson has a sort of Zen-like wisdom. "You can't reason with stupidity" was one his great bits of advice. But you've got to have a go haven't you? Especially if your programme is a phone-in.
So this was day three of us trying to get into the minds of the Big Brother housemates. Of course you wonder if it’s worth trying. But the calls, texts and emails from the listeners confirmed it is the right place to be. Probably because what the Five Live listeners have to say is much more interesting than most of the stuff you hear in the BB house. And you don't have to wait so long for the good bits!
Is Shilpa the victim of racism? Basic bullying? Class envy? Jealousy because she's beautiful? Or is she just getting a crash course in British culture. The listeners who got in touch had lots of different takes on it.
We got up some people's noses: plenty asked us to stop going on about it. "Do us a favour and cease broadcasting...the savings can be passed onto the hard-up licence payer".
But for every one who said "I don’t care, I don't watch, I'm off to Radio 2 until it’s over", there are many more who want a say.
It started off about racism. Was it or wasn't it? The audience was split: "everyone is missing the point - it all boils down to jealousy", "it's about class", "it's about beauty". Looks, culture, money, class...or race. In the end I think the definition of racism depended on race.
Of course I don't know what colour our listeners are when they call, text or email. But lots of the people who are telling us this is racism, are from ethnic minorities. They are telling us what they see and hear on the TV echoes their experience and they spell it out.
Some of the best calls, the ones that really tell us something important, are these ones. They show this issue isn’t just hot air, media waffle, and pedantic definitions. It's about what people have to put up with in their lives. Here's what one listener said "I am glad it raises it on TV because it brings it into the open."
But for lots of people it's just a great opportunity to be really, really rude about people. How often do you get that chance to be truly vitriolic? And the wonderful thing is the range of targets: the "celebs" of course got the worst of it. But there were delicious digs at "band wagon-jumping" politicians, manipulative tossers in the media, halfwits in the house and out of it. No one escaped the lash. Least of all us, "for falling for the most transparent broadcast scam ever".
Today the debate moved on. We asked people if they reckon BB is real Britain. Yes it is. Teachers, police officers, parents, social workers all rang in, texted and emailed to say boorish Britain is the reality. "I am a primary school teacher. Jade is not the exception, she is the norm."
"I don't blame Big Brother - it has just turned a mirror onto the country and the image that has come back is ugly."
But it’s not all hand-wringing. Jermaine Jackson has his disciples in the Five Live audience: "Being stupid is the whole point. You could put Mother Theresa and Ghandi in the BB house, and they'd bitch. If you think this is real Britain you need to get out of the house more."
Louise Cotton edits the Victoria Derbyshire programme
