Blame the Internet geeks! -- This seems to be the mantra of the Big Brother 2 houseguests lately. When they screw up and say or do something they shouldn't, they blamed those who point it out rather than the person who did it (themselves). Have they learned to take responsibility, or are they acting like children?
When a TV show or a movie comes out with the dubious number “2” in the title, the producer/director/ screenwriters are going to assume the viewer is familiar with the first movie the sequel is talking about. Sometimes the second in the series is better, as I have heard over and over again in the case of the Godfather trilogy. This is the exception, however, not the rule.
If someone applies to be on a reality TV show , say Survivor 4 or The Mole 2 or the like, they should know what they are getting into. Unless they just stepped off the first Martian Shuttle to Earth, they should have seen some television episodes – indeed, why would they be applying otherwise? They would have read articles either online, such as here at RealityNewsOnline, or in national magazines like Time or Newsweek, or in the local paper. Anyone participating in a show that’s not new should have an inkling how it’s played, as America saw this past year with Survivor 2. Those contestants knew about alliances from Survivor 1, and their voting was done as groups, not as individuals.
Over and over on the live feeds, the Big Brother 2 guests have complained about the “Internet geeks.” Several guests have been very vocal in their disdain over this subject.
Now, I don’t have the rules the houseguests signed, and I think the investigative reporter in me is going to make some calls to CBS after the Labor Day holiday. But could this current group of contestants be so naïve as to not know that every move they make and everything they say is on the net? 24/7? That’s the nature of the show. No privacy! Why do they think there are live cams all over the house? Why do they think they have to wear microphones constantly? So the people who subscribe to the feeds can watch them 24/7.
Yes, the net sees all and tells all. So why all the anger from the houseguests at the Internet?
I have a couple of theories. One is a childhood one. Remember an event in childhood, you wanted something like a cookie. The cookie jar is on the kitchen cabinet, and you cannot reach. So you try your best to get the cookie, and you jump up, or crawl up the cabinets and get one! And the cookie canister falls to the floor, spilling cookies all over your mom’s newly washed and waxed floor. Of course Mom comes in and says, “who did this thing?” And you, a small child , say “the dog,” or the name of the imaginary friend, or your little brother, thinking you can pull the wool over your mother’s eyes. Or you say in the immortal words of Bart Simpson “ I didn’t do it.” And you learn a lesson: As long as your parents live, you can’t fool ‘em. I think this is why mothers have eyes in back of their heads, a feat which disappears once they become grandparents.
I think the houseguests are taking a page out of the book of Bart. When they say something that is not nice and it comes back as a banner the next day, well, it’s the Internet geeks’ fault, because how could I say something that mean and spiteful? I would never have done that. I didn’t do it. I am not responsible for my actions, someone else is.
This is dangerous. Yes, on one level, it’s totally innocent, like the child with the cookie. “I didn’t do it, mommy, Harvey the Rabbit did it.” (Folks, I tried that one, trust me when I tell you it does not work). But when you do things that hurt the other guests, whether it is by deed or words, it will backfire. How many wars have been fought and are still being fought because people are unhappy with their lives, so they find a scapegoat on whom they can blame their ills? Oh, we don’t have rain this year, so lets blame some witches. Or if we can’t find a witch to blame, let’s blame someone who is different than me. If I mess up their life, so what? It’s not me or my family. That is what I am finding distasteful in the current BB house. The people in there cannot take responsibility for their actions, good bad or indifferent.
Can you imagine going to a doctor, who tells you something horrid like you have cancer, something has to come off, they remove something, and then you find out, “whoops, I made a mistake.” You were healthy all the time. You would want someone to be culpable for his or her actions, and to take ownership of their mistakes. Or take this scenario, you get your tax rebate (hurray!) and decide you are going to buy stock in a company. So you buy your stock and start reading the newspaper, or watching the stock ticker on a business news channel. And you see the stock you bought at fifty dollars a share has dropped like a stone to $5 a share. Why? Because the president of the company had been misleading the public about profits. Of course, he sold out at $50/share, but you’re stuck. Obviously, you want somebody – the company’s president – to be held responsible.
When I was brought up, I was told to take responsibility for my actions. I never blamed another person after the cookie incident. Harvey the Rabbit couldn’t cut it. I don’t feel the houseguests have learned this lesson as children, therefore, they are learning it the hard way now. Unfortunately, as the psychiatrist Erikson said, “when you learn something as an adult you should have learned as a child, it’s more painful.”
I feel sorry for the guests, but I wish they would stop blaming the Internet watchers for their own mistakes. After all, America was brought up with the ideal of George Washington and the cherry tree, a lesson which I thought everyone had learned in school. And as for the members of BB, they should have known when they signed up for the show, we would be watching them, and by watching them, criticizing them – especially when they screw up and try to blame somebody else.
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