The publicity machine
Those who should be the most concerned about the cancerous growth of the so-called «reality shows» on television are precisely those who have profited so far from fame – the big names of the screen and of show business in general. By now, they should have realized that «Big Brother» and «Bar» and all such others that engage in the covert sport of peering through keyholes are undermining the reign of the big names. And this is because they reveal that in order to be recognized, numbered among the successful, and constantly attract the glare of publicity, you don’t have to be anything special, or think you are something special. To become a little star in the realm of tinsel luster, there is no need to be a capable television news presenter, an average actor or singer, a shrewd lawyer specializing in cases that are of interest to high society or a vociferous politician. You don’t need to have ideas, and above all your principles need to be no firmer than Plasticine. You simply need to be ready to flirt and be humiliated in public, and to parade your inner self, and everything will go like a dream. You’ll end up better known than the famous person who undertook to make you famous, so that at some point, if the dazzle of lights permit him, he will realize how laughable his glory is. The inexhaustible publicity machine manufactures throwaway heroes. Instead of leading our own lives, we make do by playing walk-on parts in tasteless facsimiles of life that are directed by merchants of infamy. Instead of seeking our uniqueness in what is difficult (whether it be love, work or related things), we take the easy way out by confining ourselves within glass walls. We accept having our image (which we identify with our existence) depend on the remote control of every couch potato. Yes, we must respect our life very little to surrender it so readily to its counterfeiters.
