White Rose is a protest blog collective focusing on civil liberties in the UK.
It was set up to point a finger at the erosion of personal freedom in the UK.
Government's active measures introduce new means of control such as identity cards and surveillance cameras, the passive measures such as weakening of double jeopardy and presumption of innocence.


The arguments
The resistants
Gabriel Syme and Perry de Havilland of Samizdata.net to rally the Anglosphere behind the UK.
White Rose contributors are those bloggers and non-bloggers who oppose restrictions on personal liberties.

To find out how to become a White Rose contributor, please go here.
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Big Brother distracts from the real Big Brother
Perry de Havilland (London)
(0)   Surveillance

To be honest I have never understood what the fascination people have with so-call 'reality TV' programmes like Big Brother. I have forced myself to watch a couple times and ended up despairing for the future of western civilization. Suddenly my taste for explosion filled action movies and lycra clad starlets with guns does not seem so low-brow after all.



Oooo! Very exciting!

No doubt some of our faithful commenters will put me right on this area of complete disconnection between me and this baffling area of popular culture.

But maybe this Disneyfication of the entirely unfunny term 'Big Brother' that George Orwell coined will soon be coming to an end.

Then maybe we can start getting more people frowning with concern rather than smiling vacuously at the sound of the words 'Big Brother'. Why bother watching the TV to see a bunch of self-absorbed cretins in a room back-stabbing each other when you can be in your very own rolling endless episode of 'Big Brother' by just walking down almost any CCTV filled high street in Britain?

Here is some real reality TV, staring... you.

 



Cross posted from: Samizdata.net