Not a cry-baby

My desire to spare you the preaching has produced more confusion that necessary. It has led people to accusing me of being a cry-baby and suggesting I grow up and take a look around. I really hope to keep this conversation going, but before we do that, I want to make my position clear in order to avoid rebutting points I never made.

I understand that:

1. Big Brother is above all a business enterprise. It has a budget, a business plan, and is done for profit.
2. As such, the show has been conceived in a way to minimize "human mistakes". In other words, reality is scripted to meet the project (financial) goals.
3. The participants are in the show voluntarily for whatever reasons and we need to respect their desire to be there.
4. The contestants are not a representative sample of Bulgarian society.
5. The cast is purposefully selected to create drama and conflict. Who would want to watch a bunch of people sleep for three months?!

I believe in the medium of reality TV:

1. I place high value in entertainment for entertainment's sake.
2. I don't think there are topics that must not be discussed in public. To the contrary, I am a firm believer in the fruitfulness of public discussions of sensitive or touchy subjects.
3. Reality TV is great as it has the luxury of not only being 'allowed to' but also being 'expected' to push boundaries and stir up people's minds over what is interesting, valuable, acceptable, appropriate, and so forth.
4. There is nothing wrong with being provocative. There's nothing wrong with trying to be revolutionary. There's nothing wrong even with being stupid every once in a while. We all make complete fools out of ourselves sometimes and that's not something to be embarrassed about.

I was hoping for something:

1. Racey yet tasteful.
2. Provocative yet thoughtful.
3. Disturbing yet humbling.
4. Strange yet perfectly relatable.

What I've seen so far:

1. The producers of the show seem to lack any respect or humility.
2. They have no qualms about pushing people to be dangerously homophobic, ethnocentric, nationalistic, aggressive, or self-destructive.
3. That in pursuing business goals, they are socially more harmful than provocative.
4. The show pushes people to confuse 'being able not to be surprised' with 'sophistication' or 'intelligence'

***

I know that my reaction is more a critique of the overall concept of the show than this particular installment. Yet, I don't think there's anything wrong with feeling scandalized by the fact that in the next three months my fellow people and I will be bombarded by a dangerously trashy PR machine that will do nothing but solidify stereotypes and strengthen unnecessary social divisions rather than help remove them. Honestly, the most disturbing reaction of all is the one of people trying to convince me that it's all OK and normal and how my being so shocked is stupid given how it's all perfectly normal and fine.

Well. It is not.