In the UK Millions of people have tuned in on a daily basis to watch a group of ordinary people living their lives. Big Brother fervour had grabbed the people in the UK once again. But hang on, what is so attractive about watching ordinary people doing ordinary things? How is it that after a number of weeks on the show the participants become celebrities? Why would the participants – including the thousands who failed selection process – want to open themselves up to a public intrusion of their other wise private personality?
It seems to me that the answer lies in the fact that it is reality TV, in other words anything can happen at any time – nothing is stage-managed. Thus, every emotion that is portrayed is real, we get – what we think is an authentic – intimate insight in to the personalities of the people who live in the Big Brother house. This plays into our innate human desire for intimacy with other humans. At the same time the participants get an opportunity to become known intimately by others. This too plays into their natural desire to be known by others on an intimate level. This is an example of basic human need gone mad.
We, as a society, have lost the art of intimacy. To be intimate requires an investment of time and effort; it requires one to stop focusing on oneself and to totally focus on the other person. In today’s egocentric society we are just not trained this way. Thus, we have people seeking intimacy in strange ways and sometimes willing to go to the most extreme extents to get just a glimpse of it.
This should really get us thinking. Big Brother brings home to us something of the utmost importance, a fact that if internalized can make our live so much more pleasurable. On big Brother ordinary people become famous and even idolized by others only because they have lived in the house. This demonstrates that every individual – doesn’t matter how ordinary they may seem to be – when put up to the spot light and thus become intimately known to us, prove to be special and worthy of celebration.
In the Bible we read (Numbers) how Levite men between the ages of 30 and 50 are counted in a tally of those who will be doing the actual work of transporting the Tabernacle in the desert. The word the Bible uses for counting is Naso which literally means “to lift up.” By counting the people God was saying “I focus upon you as an individual and as such recognize that you are special and precious.” Thus, by counting them God truly lifted them up.
If we take this idea to heart, making the time to get to know and focus on the people who we live and work with, if we relearn the art intimacy, we would realize all of our friends and family are celebrities and are thus worthy of our time and attention. This would put an end to the unhealthy demand for and lure to reality TV.