The British disease (well, one of them…)
This may well be a controversial one, but it is a particulary sad national trait of recent times. Please note that this is not a rant post, rather, in fact, the “rant column” is both part of the creation and symptom of what I am about to discuss.
To try and put it simply: the way in which, as a “nation”, we target a public figure, group or institution as a “hate figure” and continue, relentlessly, to condemn them. This, of course, is in part due to the media, but that is a cop out, which people use to justify their actions, like we’re all lemmings (I don’t recall Disney ever pushing me off a cliff.) This will make more sense when elaborated with a few examples discussed below, but although the examples below probably deserve a lot of the negative press and lack of public support, it is particulary the way it transforms into an empty dislike (or hatred), like it’s hating for the sake of it.
I will discuss, briefly, two apt examples for this, but there are many more. Firstly, James Blunt. Yes, that song he did was incredibly annoying and over-played, (and some don’t like the fact that he’s a bit posh) and I was as irritated by him because of his over-exposure, but that was quite a few years ago now, but the negative portrayal, together with the crass and unfunny nickname he’s been given (well done, you can rhyme, have a bisuit…) has lived on. Are we so stubborn and unmoving that we cannot alter/re-assess our opinions over time? I’ve seen a few interviews recently and he’s actually quite funny and self-depricating, which is an admirable trait.
Secondly, and this is a little more complicated, Big Brother: in past years, it has so completely taken over the popular media that of course it will course resentment, but this year it has been a much more low key affair, as it should be, not forced upon an unwilling viewer, yet the enthusiatic hatred of the programme goes on. I’m not going to discuss whether their views are valid, rather the false pretention of “going against society”, “sticking it to the man” and such. Being a “I hate Big Brother” person is as much a label as that of Big Brother fans, a group just as structured and united to their cause.
So, in essence, it is the way people considering themselves a “free spirit”, uncontrolled by media manipulation, when they are still unknowingly following a blind pack, which is something i like to call, for want of a decent term, the “controlled free spirit”. I consider this one of our countries’ deseases and I’d been interested to find out if we have infected other parts of the world yet.
Tags: Big Brother, Britain, culture, free spirit, James Blunt, media, United Kingdom
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