‘Empty and shallow games that promote money as the supreme value’
More people were to be found outside the premises of the «Bar» television show than were to be found within it on the day of its opening, protesting at what the Coordinating Committee of Social Bodies and Citizens Against «Bar» in Galatsi termed the «scourge of prefabricated subculture and trash TV.» At the same time that the doormen were welcoming the few visitors to the televised show, approximately 200 people demonstrated against the «brittle, false world of reality games» and the «empty and shallow games that promote money as the supreme value.» «The models which are promoted eradicate any concept of dignity. Women are reduced to being objects of pleasure, while young people learn to tell tales on their housemates who, until then, were friends and companions,» said committee member Vassilis Zafeirakis. The committee underscored that it was not only protesting against «Bar» but also against «Big Brother.» «We demand that such shows not be produced and we call upon the National Television and Radio Council and the ministers of education and culture to take a stand,» the committee members said. The dean of Ioannina University, Costas Massalas, also sent a message of support, saying that «television programs which attempt to create a passive and obedient audience of viewers and consumers harm culture and the aesthetics of our people.» Negative role models The demonstration on March 13 was hailed by Panayiotis Lafazanis and Angelos Tzekis, Left Coalition and Communist Party deputies respectively, while OLME, the State Senior High School Teachers Federation, also expressed its disapproval of «Bar,» especially in an area where there are schools, underlining that such programs provided young people with negative role models. At the same time as the demonstration, several Galatsi entrepreneurs, in interviews with television channels, expressed their support for the show, which «contributed to making the area known and to commercial activities.»
