Has Johann Hari Debased Modern Culture?

Beware folks! This man is a tit. He's the gay version of Quentin Letts. I'm not sure who that statement is more insulting to, Quentin or gay people. It's a valid comparison though. With Quentin Letts you already know that he's a creepy, spineless little toe rag with backward opinions, the backstabbing turd who always vowed to get the bullies back, the hand ringing, crotch rubbing perv of Westminster gossip. It's not a nice assumption, is it?

On the other hand, however, Johann Hari is a little bit worse. He's the suspicious sort that often crops up on Channel 4's 'Big Brother' spin-offs or Newsnight Review, spouting garbage just to appear contrary, therefore 'original' and (how I hate this term) 'edgy'. Example. The general consensus about 'Big Brother' is that it is TV's slop bucket. Far from actually fulfilling its Orwellian social experiment and providing something that actually educates us, it's nothing more than a mirror distorting society, a cynical producers fantasy, a sign that something is not right in TV world, hand picking misfits and plonking them in a cage and giving them rewards like seals for performing irrelevant tasks. The whole thing is as pleasant as a big fat shit on a pristine copy of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. So sad. But Hari and his lot would say something like ' ooh but that's not what it's about. It's not supposed to be an Orwellian nightmare...it's Shakespeare!'

So Hari is an apologist of this type of programme and while I couldn't care less what people choose to watch, accompanied with queeny squeals and bottles of wine, I do object to the idea that 'Big Brother' is discussed or reviewed as if its akin to Shakespeare. Hm, convenient isn't it, when intellectuals can compare low art to high art or are far too liberal to actually see art in its different shades of relevance. It's the only way they can justify their guilty pleasure by comparing something to Beckett or Mozart. It fucks me off. I'd have more respect if you said you were an avid viewer but you were aware its a piece of escapist shit. Please be under no illusions. Unfortunately arseholes like Hari pop up unpleasantly like last night's off treacle pudding and engage in meaningless punditry. Meanwhile in Argentina a kid is probably being raped.

What disappoints me is that Hari should know better. He writes for centre-left-liberal newspapers which aren't focused on tits and goss. He obviously has some tastes that seperate him from the average Daily Star reader, unless he keeps a stash of 'OK!' mags in the bog to whack off to in between seasons of Big Brother. (I bet he writes some self-serving, wanky obituary when Big Brother ends next year. I bet you a million quid he does!) His kind of dumbed down 'journalism' is partly the reason I've lost interest in the likes of The Guardian or The Indie. As with the low-brow me, me, 'journalism' of Deborah Orr or Peter Robinson, it feels like you're reading a Christmas newsletter from someone who'd under the impression that you give two shits about them. Maybe he reminds me in many ways of Russell T. Davies.

You wouldn't guess but I've nothing against how people waste their time as long as it doesn't hurt anyone or break any laws. But let's get things into perspective. Big Brother and its ilk is just cheap, lowest common denominator entertainment. It always was.