reality tv culture

Is it just me that finds this distasteful: a heaving throng of cameramen squirming to catch a good picture of a clearly premeditated act of criminal damage? Where were their morals when this was going on? No doubt they would see it differently if it was their own house, and their industry colleagues stood by eagerly taking pictures while some thug smashed the window in. It's effectively corporate happy-slapping, where people are far more interested in the personal benefits of recording a crime than in preventing one.

Is this what comes about from being a nation of reality tv fans, where we get our entertainment from the public embarrassment of others? Is that why so many people seem to think there's nothing wrong if a celebrity like Jonathan Ross or Jeremy Clarkson says something very offensive and potentially damaging about an individual or group as long as it's funny to the intended audience? I thought this was the sort of bullying that you see at school but were supposed to grow out of, as you start to develop empathy for other people and a sense of your own responsibilities? Perhaps not.