A small step for taste, but a giant leap for mankind

[Grojlach]

It's a start... [img]graemlins/blueblink.gif[/img]

Country Bans Big Brother

Moses Serugo
Kampala
Big Brother Africa has been taken off the air in Malawi after the country's parliament condemned it as immoral.
A report on the BBC Web site yesterday said that Malawi's parliament voted to ban the pan-African reality series from its public TV station because of concerns about its sexual content.
The Malawian action follows a number of complaints the chairman of Malawi's parliamentary committee on the media said he had received, particularly from parents.
Mr Taylor Nothale said most Malawians felt the show might encourage young people to engage in immoral behaviour.
"People are subjected to horrible pictures which are corrupting the morals of our children," Mr Nothale said.
Ugandan housemate Gaetano Kaggwa and South Africa's Abby Plaatjes have been sexually intimate a number of times.
The opposition leader, Mr Gwanda Chakuamba, was quoted to have said: "We want the government to stop that nonsense on TV."
Most of Malawi's 10.6 million people are deeply conservative Christians.
It also has a Muslim minority.
Malawi has become the third African nation to condemn the series following concerns raised by Namibia's President Sam Nujoma and religious leaders in Zambia.
Big Brother Africa originally featured 12 contestants, each from a different African country, locked together inside the Big Brother house in Johannesburg.
There are now eight housemates left in the house.
They have complained that some of the footage broadcast is too explicit.
State-run Television Malawi has been broadcasting highlights of the South Africa-based show every evening.
Malawi had a contestant, Mr Zein Dudah, who was evicted a month ago.
"If [the show] didn't generate any controversy, the project would be a failure," Big Brother producer Carl Fischer told the BBC.
Rich Malawians will, however, still be able to watch the show on satellite television.

Source: Alla Africa

All kidding aside, maybe a good opportunity to discuss "reality" shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Are they really immoral, or just pedestrian entertainment not worth the trouble? And for those who actually like it, why? [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]

[johnny]

No chance that will ever happen here dude, after all, we invented "Crap TV".

Can you believe they actually announced the second Idols competition ? I'm still recovering from the musical horrors i witnessed in the first edition, and already they start a new one. Are they THAT eager to fill the charts with cheesy artists and even more cheesy songs ?

[Grojlach]

Originally posted by johnny: Can you believe they actually announced the second Idols competition ? I'm still recovering from the musical horrors i witnessed in the first edition, and already they start a new one. Are they THAT eager to fill the charts with cheesy artists and even more cheesy songs ?

If it sells, why not?
I suppose we'll just have to put more effort in trying to avoid it... That's why I did. I hardly watch TV nor listen to the radio anymore; as a result, my tv is mostly an expensive way to get my daily dose of Seinfeld, though. [img]graemlins/blueblink.gif[/img]

[ 08-11-2003, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

[Rokenn]

There is hope for mankind after all! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Timber Loftis]

You think this is bad, just wait for Bi-TEMPTATION ISLAND!!!! [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

We have not yet begun to debauch!! You just wait!!

One day, you'll see -- we will all be free to enjoy the flesh to its fullest once the great Slaanesh is awakened.

[johnny]

Bi temptation island ?

That's it.... from now on nothing but Animal Planet.

[B_part]

Banning Big Brother alike shows is a great thing, IMO, but only if you do that because they are outright crap and they are dangerous on the children who might grow up idiots. But when you ban them because "immoral sexual content", it's just a victory of the moral-righteous-religious-conservatorism, and that isn't a great leap forward for democracy or mankind. I want to be able to choose what is immoral, not be forced to by old ladies with a Bible in their hands (or in this case old men with long beards and the Holy Koran in their hands)

[Lord Lothar]

(or in this case old men with long beards and the Holy Koran in their hands)

Well in this case, the old men would not be carrying the Koran, they'd be carrying a Bible as the article pointed out, most Malawians are Christians.

[Mr. Mopery]

Originally posted by B_part: Banning Big Brother alike shows is a great thing, IMO, but only if you do that because they are outright crap and they are dangerous on the children who might grow up idiots. But when you ban them because "immoral sexual content", it's just a victory of the moral-righteous-religious-conservatorism, and that isn't a great leap forward for democracy or mankind. I want to be able to choose what is immoral, not be forced to by old ladies with a Bible in their hands (or in this case old men with long beards and the Holy Koran in their hands)

I agree. Particularly in the West, with it's moral diversity, banning a worthless show like Big Brother wouldn't do much good. It wouldn't change the fact that there are millions of people who love to empty out their brains each night and watch this crap.

Educate the people and introduce semi-intelligent mindless crap, like the old Tick cartoon!!!!!

And as for Bi-Temptation Island...I just hope it wouldn't be Gilligan's Bi-Temptation Island.

[Chewbacca]

Hmmm, I still love Survivor. It is the first, it changes ever so subtly every season, and has seemed to avoid the sensational trappings of many of it's copycats. It is entertaining and an interesting lesson in microcosmic sociology IMO.

[ 08-13-2003, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]