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CBS and Big Brother reach a new level of homophobiaBig Brother reached a new level of homophobia last night and apparently CBS is fine with it. When “Christen preacher’s son” Ollie (who said in a pre-show interview that gay people would not be allowed into heaven) was one –upped by another housemate in the game he repeatedly called another houseguest “faggot” and then followed it up with yelling “Suck my d**K, you faggot” several times. You can check it out on Utube, if CBS hasn’t taken it off. Let’s just imagine if another white houseguest called Ollie the “N” word. I am pretty sure he would be asked to leave the game. FYI, I believe in the U.K. version of B.B. a houseguest was asked to leave because of calling another houseguest faggot in jest with none of the pure hatred that was vomited out by Mr. Preachers Son. CBS is mute on the subject so far and I sincerely believe that they would be brought to task. Enough is enough!
Submitted by Ed (135 points) (24 posts) on Tue, 2008-08-26 14:25. |
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Big Brother is detroying lives
BB has been degrading people since its inception. Rewarding people for bad behavior as long as it adds to the bottom line is what is really detroying this country. I believe he should go and in a very public way. He forgets that because of the gays and lesbians that lived and died for the civil rights movement he can even be on such a show. CBS would never give them liquor and weapons and let them have a go at each other. But they are saying to young people it is Ok to hate and villify people who actually love each other.
In the name of Lawrence King and so many others, kick the guy off the show.
They actually give them plenty of liquor
While I think that this show is no more toxic than say Temptation Island or The Bachelor, the biggest "problem" is the way CBS monetizes this particular show by allowing viewers to see un-edited footage 24/7 via cbs.com. On top of that the is the Showtime 2 Big Brother After Dark mess, which provides 3 hours of coverage that is only partly edited. Both of these elements are what probably keeps this show on the air as the live feed is not free and Showtime actually gets hundreds of thousands additional subscribers during BB. Hard to believe, as the Showtime 2 showing is more boring than watching paint dry.
I am pretty sure that the same type of comments arise in others shows of this nature, although this show has the additional element that it lasts much longer than others as Survivor is done in 40 days I can't see any of the other suspects lasting much longer than that.
If CBS wants to keep making money with all sorts of live feeds, they might want to use a 1 hour delay so that they can avoid these nasty things from airing and to frame something equally sketchy that will be offensive but keep race, gender, and sexual orientation from the screens. While these train wrecks bring in more rubberneckers, they can incorporate Skinemax-type games and take a more active role in cheapening the show in tawdry ways that might just offend due to disgust but not go there as there is no place for the n-word or the f-word or the many see you next Tuesdays that are used to demean women.
I hope that the house-guests get/use condoms as the preacher's son may have already produced the first BB pregnancy as per the lore that surrounds this show. Nasty! I don't get how anyone wants to be observed 24/7 as I'd be afraid I'd be seen picking my butt by minute 5 and would develop such paranoia that I'd be taken out of there in a stretcher.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
I would hope
that if a houseguest called Ollie the "N word" he would not be asked to leave the house. We already give words to much power as it is. Words are words. Ollie can say someone's a "faggot". We can say Ollie is a homophobic piece of crap. Many other houseguests have made racist, sexist, and homophobic comments throughout the run of the show. They should of course be criticized and ostracized by respectable people, but to kick Ollie out for saying mean things just makes us all look very weak. And I'm not sure what level of homophobia CBS has reached. They are obviously not endorsing Ollie's comments.
Insideguy, what "lives" have been "destroyed" by Big Brother? Personally, I'm not so weak and pathetic that my life is destroyed if someone calls me a slur. Talk about hyperbole!
CBS is absolutely endorsing
CBS is absolutely endorsing his comments. They do everything that they can in hopes to provoke despicable outbreaks like the one mentioned above. When tensions are highest in the house, the food closet will be stocked to the hilt with liquor, just to ensure an even more violent outburst. The producers of the show egg on the contestants and plant conspiracy theories when the contestants are in the diary room. The slop is yet another way to ensure that contestants are aggravated.
The producers knew before accepting Ollie that he was a big old homophobe. These contestants aren't chosen for their personalities alone. Most are chosen mainly for their beliefs and are put together in hopes that the personalities and beliefs will conflict on a daily basis. The contestants have to fill out detailed questionaires which probe their religious, political and more stances. Choosing a homophobic contestant to participate in the show is absolutely endorsing homophobia. CBS can conveniently keep their hands clean as a result, but they are the biggest culprits behind such outbursts.
You said: Personally, I'm not so weak and pathetic that my life is destroyed if someone calls me a slur. Talk about hyperbole. Isn't it similarly hyperbolic to say that those who are beat down and called faggot every day are weak and pathetic if it eventually affects their psyche? Kudos to you for having a tough skin, but please don't try to diminish the effect that words like faggot and nigger can have on individuals.
Hmm...
" Isn't it similarly hyperbolic to say that those who are beat down and called faggot every day are weak and pathetic if it eventually affects their psyche? "
And this happened because of Big Brother?
Look, Ollie sucks. I have no problem saying that. Lots of people in the country suck. Trying to silence them won't work. Public shaming and riducule is much better. If you take a look at various BB websites, they're all pretty much going after Ollie and exposing him as the hypocritical douchebag he is. That's far more effective then trying to ban people from being a-holes.
Hmmm..
I don't recall saying in my post that it should be banned. I just disagreed with your point that CBS has nothing to do with it. They're as guilty as Ollie, as they picked him knowing that such issues could and probably would come up. They don't just pick these contestants out of a fishbowl.
"And this happened because of Big Brother?" Did I say it did? Again, I was referring to you who said that names don't affect you because you aren't weak and pathetic, which seems to infer that those who are affected negatively by "faggot" are weak and pathetic. If I'm wrong, super but that's the impression your post left me.
sigh
""And this happened because of Big Brother?" Did I say it did? Again, I was referring to you who said that names don't affect you because you aren't weak and pathetic, which seems to infer that those who are affected negatively by "faggot" are weak and pathetic."
It seems like you're deliberately trying to misunderstand me. The person whose post you were backing up said Big Brother was destroying lives. I said essentially, "someone on Big Brother saying gay slurs doesn't destroy lives." I DIDN'T say people who are effected negatively by "faggot" are weak and pathetic. I said it doesn't destroy someone's life because someone on a gameshow called someone else a gay slur. "Affected negatively" and "Life destroyed" are two different things. Hence, my original accusation of hyperbole. You for some strange reason decided to change my original statement from "someone calling me a slur isn't going to destroy my life" to "someone being beat down and called faggot every day is weak and pathetic if it hurts their psyche." You should be a political spin-doctor.
" I don't recall saying in my post that it should be banned."
Didn't say you did. The OP and the "destroying lives" guy both said Ollie should be kicked out of the house for saying "faggot".
Hey, it's nice to be
Hey, it's nice to be agreeing with you completely on this thread (referring to "the Herald's" post above) when I'm disagreeing with you on another!
In fact, I'm wondering if an incident like this could actually be useful in the sense that it exposes homophobia, and especially as it exposes it in a "preacher's son". The hypocrisy is so self evident that it can be sobering to others. I'm reminded somewhat of the Michael Richards' incident. His ranting exposed something deep and scary in people that is often ignored, overlooked, buried, or denied. The resultant conversation and soul searching was useful. This could be the same sort of thing.
I also agree that we don't want to give words too much power, or become victims everytime someone says something we don't like.
It could be useful if CBS
It could be useful if CBS planned on using the above outburst in their telecast. This is the third time that Ollie used the word Faggot in the house. They've had plenty of time to edit and use such outbursts in the show. If they haven't by now, I doubt that they are going to later.(You would think that since he and April had premarital relations, that his hypocrisy would make for a good story, but hey what do I know. Ollie probably likes shellfish too, but you'll never see him eating any shrimp on Big Brother! Simply abominable.) Jerry and Michelle have been similarly homophobic, sexist and downright ugly human beings, but you'd never know it via CBS editing job.
His ranting absolutely exposed " something deep and scary in people that is often ignored, overlooked, buried, or denied" but don't think for a second that CBS won't ignore, overlook, bury and deny the entire situation, because they will.
During BB8...
Comment deleted for profanity.
"Bitch and c**t" huh?
Please keep in mind that a lot of folks read
sorry
Down David.......
Check out VH1's line-up, the last season of The World, and even the lovely-sounding The Bachelor which sets women back 100 years and let's not talk about the ageism and racism that are an implicit part of the formula as any person as any on-white descent can start packing her bags quickly.
I actually feel as guilty as CBS for contributing the BB's success as I watch it and cover it elsewhere. I can't pretend that it's just for the paycheck as I followed it before and know that if we all stopped watching it, it would die. We help keep this trash alive by watching it so I can't take a moral high ground on this one. I can make fun of the Chenbot and how much she suuuuucks, but she's so awful that I find her perfect and this may be one of the few shows that I can actually call a guilty pleasure as I kind of feel like crap after watching it and still continue to. Call in the shrinks!!!
I am just calling myself out as I feel that unless we really do stop watching this trash, it's the wave of the future as TV scripted shows are expensive to produce and the current model has shows only being able to put out anywhere from 8 to 25 episodes a year. I already stopped watching all other reality shows that make me sick or bored me (America's Next Top ....., Dancing with the....., American Idol......), but unfortunately they also happen to be each of those networks highest rated shows so there are only going to be more of them. While I've never seen NBC's Talent show, but that too is its highest rated show right now, so the future for network TV is scary as "reality" either goes the goofy stuff or what seems like Jerry Springer 2.0. Thank God for basic cable, some premium cable offerings and for shows like Lost, which to me represents the best type of "product" that can come via the now outdated TV business model.
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
I was just getting with the "Big Brother" spirit, dear
"Herald" of what?
To put iut another way --
(as my original comment was deleted above)
Kidnap Julie Chen. Videotape her waterbaording, and then demand a cool billion form Leslie Moonves (her husband) or it will go up on You Tube.
Isn't that the "Big Brother" spirit?
They can call us "fag" and we can't object because that would be "Political Correctness" run amok.
Who said