Is BB3 a reflection of society?
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TV ClubHouse: Archive: Is BB3 a reflection of society?
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Archive through August 29, 2002 25   08/29 10:59am

Romans8_1

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 10:59 am EditMoveDeleteIP
so, Ark, you agree then that it is our environment makes us tolerable.

Spunky

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:01 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Oh I think we're exaggerating a bit now... we're here only to share opinions on the show and on the actions of the hgs. We express outrage at what we see something but we also express our thoughts in a very civilized manner, always respectufl of others' opinions.
We make fun of them sometimes because our sense of humor has not been shut down as theirs in the house and we can see the whole picture and not be limited like they are.
Also, don't forget that we do interact while remaining anonymous and sometimes this anonymity makes us a bit more direct in our expressions of our thoughts. Nothing wrong with that.
I think all in all we are a fairly good bunch of people...

Romans8_1

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:05 am EditMoveDeleteIP
The houseguest would say they are a faily good bunch of people too. We always say that because the alternative is unthinkable. My belief (yes it stems from my Christianity), is that we are sinful my nature. Left to our own devices we will never seek goodness unless it is in our own selfish interest to do so.

Crazydog

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:06 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I agree Ark. These people are in a small isolated environment and the only other people in their world are each other. Romans, I don't necessarily think it is our environment that makes us tolerable, it's just that our environment forces us to prioritize and address only the most pressing concerns. If I didn't have to work, run errands etc. I'd probably spend a lot of my time complaining and talking about other people too. When they have nothing to do, they have to create things to talk about.

Cafe976

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:07 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks, Romans! :)

It's interesting that these HG's will not realize the "pecking" they've engaged in until they see it afterward on tape. Wonder if they'll smack themselves on the forehead? Or if they'll remain confident that they were right all along?


This is where the "social experiment" part of the game really starts to wear on the HG's and reveal the darker sides of human nature. It's interesting to see their relative strength of character revealed, and sometimes surprising who crumbles.

For instance, I'm a little disappointed in Danielle, whereas Marcy has been flopping around like a fish on shore over so many things... And I think the HG's sensing their weakness is what's making them so worried about Roddy's presence but so unable to rid the house of him. I just need to step back and keep my sense of humor about it.

Edited to add: You're totally right, Onlyhuman, the show proves that people we would consider adults and professionals do NOT always mature in this way, and the kinds of situations you talk about it reveal that. In a truly professional atmosphere, this shouldn't enter in. However, the professionalism of a work environment can only rise as high as the character of those working there!

Edited again because I can't edit, LOL.

Romans8_1

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:09 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Crazydog, my point exactly. Our environment temporarily takes our mind off of who we really are. But even in these situations we can still exhibit our natural sinful nature.

Squaredsc

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:14 am EditMoveDeleteIP
yes molly, i like the prison one better<grin>. ark, if someone takes my parking space i slash their tires, then move on to another one.

Cindyluvsroddy

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:54 am EditMoveDeleteIP
In the Real World they wouldnt be living together

They may not even be friends with each other...

They would have jobs and be away from the house -instead of being couped up all day ....

In the real world they wouldnt have cameras following them 27/7 and being watched by 10,000,000 all the time...

They also wouldn't have 10's of thousands of people writing about them on message boards on many websites....

They r human, yes ... but im not so sure that they reflect society so much ....

Secretsmile

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 11:59 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Onlyhuman, I have wondered about this also. I can only say I hope not. I would be insulted if someone mentioned the size of any of my body parts, even if they believed it was a compliment. I never thought I was a prude, but honestly the comments people feel they have the right to make, keeps me wondering if I live in a dreamworld.

I try to post about ideas, and have left feeds, if they become too personal and nasty. Unforunately the hg's don't have that ablilty.

The one thing I'm guilty of, is not telling people like you, how much I appreciate your posts. THANK YOU!

Karuuna

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 12:46 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Onlyhuman, thanks for your thoughtful post. I always get a bit tired of BB around this time in the program; but this year I seem to be more tired of it than usual.

I can't imagine that these folks are a representation of society in a perfectly matching sense. If it were, we would see more evidence of the more positive attributes of humanity.

In any arbitrary small group of folks, the dynamics of the situation and the individuals involved determine the personality and outcomes of the group. You never really know what you're going to get when you take a group of strangers and throw them together, whether it's for a week or a few months. In this case, the group seems to be biased toward some very controlling and somewhat self-centered folks - so the outcome we see is the viciousness that comes from not getting your own way as much as you'd like.

When you add in the mix of posters we have, well, not to insult anyone, but often seeing poor behavior modeled brings out our own darkest sides. When we see compassionate acts, we tend to act with compassion; when we see viciousness we may act out our own viciousness on HGs or even other posters. So for both our HGs and our posters, once the tide has moved in a particular direction, it's very hard not to swim with the current. And the more folks that swim with the current, the stronger the current gets. In both cases, the current seems to be a predominantly negative one (IMO).

With some wonderful exceptions, I find reading the posts in many of the BB threads to be both depressing and frustrating. Both feelings combined don't exactly help me get in touch with my kind and patient side. So mostly I stay away from the threads that not only discuss the perceived imperfect behaviors of the HGs, but also the perceived imperfect behaviors of other posters or moderators.

Personally, I know my own dark side well enough to know I'd like to keep it closeted. So, I'd prefer to hang out in places where I can be more uplifted by folks' humor and caring nature. So I'll be rowing my boat merrily down that stream.

Wedge

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 12:57 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Karuuna: That is the best post I have read in a long time! :)

Spunky

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 01:01 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Exactly so Karunna.

With posters like these how can we complain??
Spunky smiling.... (I can't attach that smiling face)

Zeyna

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 01:05 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Karuuna, excellent post.

Spunky, all you have to type is : and ) without a space in between and you get :)

Spunky

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 01:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Okay then, I'm going to smile really broadly now..... :)

It worked!! Thanks!

Lumbele

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 03:02 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Personally, I choose not to believe that these HGs are representative of society. That may be naive but I'll keep my head in the sand until I *have* to come up for air.
It is the show's staff that chooses the participants and they are out for ratings. So their *choices* (and scripts as some belief) are not regular folks but people they believe outrageous enough to produce the effect they are looking for. Having a university-student-aged son with friends in this age group, I am an optimist. *Real* society is a lot rosier than the picture AS chooses to show us.
On the other hand, we will never know how we would behave unless we have walked in their shoes and been in that pressure cooker called the BB House. It can be fun though watching these people interact. The term lab rats somehow seems quite appropriate.

Wiseolowl

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 03:37 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Karuuna this may sound corny , but following the live feeds and this board has actually helped me to be a better person in my real life. Seeing how these people backstab gossip and criticize each other has made me more aware of my own treatment of others.
Having said that I've said some unkind things on this board which may hurt the people concerned if they ever read them when they get out. I don't feel too badly about it though because from a selfish point of view it provides a safety valve for me and those whom I've spoken ill of are pretty egocentric chacacters without a moral centre who could use a wake up call and even then they dismiss us as computor nerds without a life.

Willow_Woman

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 03:48 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
A reflection of society? Ye Gads I hope not! What a depressing thought. If that were true, I'd be packing my bags right now and heading to some remote island.

Now disregarding character/morals/etc. They are certainly not a reflection of the "make-up" of our society. There are no "normal" looking people. They are all "beautiful" (except one or two). There is only 1 older person in the house. Clearly not a reflection of U.S. No Asian, Latino, etc. etc. All seem middle-class or better.

Laffy

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 04:19 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
it may be representative of a society where one's decisions could mean winning or losing a half mil. otherwise, no.

Karuuna

Friday, August 30, 2002 - 04:08 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Spunky -- I went to make a post to you in your member folder, but you don't have one! Would you like one?

Karuuna

Friday, August 30, 2002 - 04:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wiseolowl - That's not corny. Keep it up and we'll have to change your name to WiserOlOwl.

Lancecrossfire

Friday, August 30, 2002 - 05:16 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Is BB3 a reflection of society? In the context that the first post takes on, I feel the answer is yes, in many ways it is.

First off, it is a game that uses members of society. Second, just like society, these folks have to act and interact with each other. Third, they are given a set of rules—so of them hard and clear cut, others more open to how one can proceed—just like life is. Fourth, these people must adapt and make changes to situations that either change or that were not what they expected to happen. Life seems to give us that as well. Fifth, the group consists of people that are different from on another—just like life. Of course because there are only 12, the diversity in BB3 (or the similarity if you keep to only your own type in real life) isn’t the same because real life has way more than 12 people (at least for most of us). Sixth, there is a support system to keep BB3 going that they sometimes see and sometimes do not see. We have that same thing too.

As additional evidence, I look at the posts on the board about BB3—in affect we have created our own house, and play right along with them by looking at what they do (and what we do to each other), and we comment on it—sometimes a lot. We do this for other TV shows, and we also do it for situations we share with each other related to what is happening in our real life.

I think in those terms, BB3 is a reflection of society. I also think it is in terms of how we strive for success. We have had folks on BB3 and the other BB shows that are there for a number of reasons—a number of ideas of what success would be for them. One is cash on the show. Equate that to the wage you earn. Some folks will do whatever they can to win the 500K—just like some folks will do most anything to make more money. (I’ll get to the ethics part of that in the ethics thread).

So are there to win the money by playing within the rules and also following their own set of ethics. Just like in real life (more about ethics in the other thread)

Some are there to win the money, or come as close to it as possible while also taking the chance to do something they wouldn’t get to do in any other facet of their life. In real life there are people who try and combine both a wage and unique work experiences.

Some people go there to get camera and exposure time in hopes to having a shot at a career they feel would suit them. That also happens in real life—folks venture into different experiences worrying little about the money, and mainly what they will get out of it.

Some of the BB3 people are known to have been basically picked, and had it not been for that never would have tried under their own thoughts. That too happens in real life. People are asked everyday to try something they wouldn’t have thought on their own to try.

I think the rules are a reflection of society as well. From all the information floating around since BB1, it seems there are some things you can do which will get you in trouble no matter what. Then there are many other rules where they CAN do something to you. And sometimes they enforce it, sometimes they don’t. To me, that sounds very similar to real life. An example of this at work could be something like this: If an employee burn down a building at work and is caught, it doesn’t matter of it’s the CEO or lowest paid worker; they will be fired (along with other things happening). If a person comes into work 15 minutes late, one person may get warned or chastised, where another employee may have nothing said to them. These are the situations in BB we tend to feel are unfair. Same in real life.

Ways in which BB isn’t too much like society. The time frame of BB is very finite and small compared to society. The affects one person has on others, or on other situations in other aspects of life isn’t likely to be as far reaching. It’s also known to be a game that has a known starting point and a known end point. Society doesn’t have that—it just keeps going and going. In BB, a small action may affect all or a majority of everyone in the game. That same action in society many be known and/or affect a very small amount of society.

I’d also like to throw out something to chew the fat about if you wish. BB is one of many reality TV shows out there. Yet, at least on this board, it by far exceeds the number of people it attracts, the volume of posts, the topics of threads, and intensity of the posts, and the passion of the posters—as mentioned above, we almost imitate BB the way we “play” (post about it) on the board. Why is that????

I would like to throw some ideas out there about that. First, I think it has to do with the premise of the show. In the scientific world, a situation would never be approved to study humans in this manner—locked up, for the most part kept out of contact with the rest of the world. Yet a game show can take a shot at it. So I think we are interested in looking at a situation that is unique and anyone could be in. No special skills are needed, any human can play and they use people we can relate to. Each gender is included, ages from 20 something to 50 something, married, divorced, single, going with someone, etc. We have quiet types, we have loud folks, we have heterosexuals and homosexuals. We have all sorts of jobs represented, we have people with various amounts of money. Of course because there is only 12, it’s hard to fit everyone in, but considering there is only 12, they do a good job of having something most of us can relate to. Next is the big one, IMHO. The 24 hour live feeds. When this is done (think back to BB1) there is going to be a lot of people who feel they actually know the 12 people—especially the ones who stay in the house the longest. I’ve read posts where words like love, hate, despise, trust, care for, like, etc are used in describing HGs. In order to have those types of feelings, you really have to feel you know them. BB1 HGs have commented how people will talk to them like they are long lost friends—as if they really know who they are. This is unique to any of the other shows out there. People seem to form a bond to one or more HG.

You know, in society, we form bonds with those we spend time with and get to know. All BB has to do to get America hooked (in comparison to other shows I mean) is allow as many people as possible access to the feeds. As TVCH, we have, on a small scale, already proven it works.

Of course all of this is IMHO