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A scandal took place in Beykoz, Istanbul concerning Biri Bizi Gözetliyor - the Turkish version of Big Brother. 9 girls were informed that they were selected to enter the BBG house, who, too happy with the news, didn't hesitate a second to "sprint" to the villa in Beykoz. Their gaiety lasted short however, as they learned later that they were fooled by a gang whose members probably had plans with them, such as selling the girls' video tapes to the news agencies. The shocking news were disseminated to the entire world, with more than two hundred thousand websites mentioning the incident. The event showed us how blindly people (both the gang members and the girls!) desire to become famous and rich, the sinister dual Rushdie has mentioned of. For further details, here's the link!
Isn't the name of probably the most popular reality show in the world worth investigation? Why "Big Brother"?
Taking its fame into consideration, I think almost everyone knows at least a little of Big Brother, the character (or an entity?) that George Orwell has created in his famous book 1984. It is thought to be resembling Stalin, especially in terms of the dominating pressure he has evoked in his folk's minds. In the book, people are being constantly watched by so called Big Brother via telescreens and this "surveillance" is often reminded to the society with the sentence "Big Brother is watching you." In that distopia, it is almost a reality tv show, as they have no private lives, almost no memory, no independent thoughts, no nothing. Just like the participants of today's Big Brother, isn't it? It is somehow vice-versa in today's show though, the exhibitionistic participants artificially continue their lives that were once unique to them, and yes, I think they almost possess the power that enables to control the audience. The audience is being toyed by the show, and has become dependent to the "competitor"s' thoughts and emotions. That is, the audience only passively watch and comment to the show as if they have been hypnotized. In fact, they are not competitors, as they all have accomplished their missions by managing to enter that Big Brother house. And you know what, I agree with Salman Rushdie that reality tv is the death of morality, but it is not immoral to watch those shows, it is immoral to be wanting to be voyeured at any time, and that is the death of morality. The control is in their hands. Hence, the audience is not watching Big Brother. Mr. Orwell was right.
Big Brother is watching you.
A scandal took place in Beykoz, Istanbul concerning Biri Bizi Gözetliyor - the Turkish version of Big Brother. 9 girls were informed that they were selected to enter the BBG house, who, too happy with the news, didn't hesitate a second to "sprint" to the villa in Beykoz. Their gaiety lasted short however, as they learned later that they were fooled by a gang whose members probably had plans with them, such as selling the girls' video tapes to the news agencies. The shocking news were disseminated to the entire world, with more than two hundred thousand websites mentioning the incident. The event showed us how blindly people (both the gang members and the girls!) desire to become famous and rich, the sinister dual Rushdie has mentioned of. For further details, here's the link!
