question of the day: Is Fox’s new reality show yet another sign of the apocalypse?If I didn’t know this was true, I’d have guessed it was the Onion pulling our collective leg: NEW YORK – The Fox network is letting employees of some troubled small businesses decide which one of their colleagues will be laid off and turning the results into a reality show. The Guardian sums it all up beautifully: About 700,000 Americans were sacked in March. In the past month three men who recently lost their jobs went on gun rampages, killing a total of 26 people. What to do with such grim news? My question is: Is the mere fact that someone conceived of this idea and that enough other someones approved of it to get it into production enough to condemn the entire human race to summary execution by, say, a giant solar flare engulfing the planet Earth, or should we wait until TV audiences make this a hit and we start to see copycat shows in England and Japan before we few innocents need to start packing our bags and heading into deep space? Is Fox’s new reality show yet another sign of the apocalypse? (P.S. I'll feel a lot better about the human race if we hear this is a hoax, but I'm not hopeful.) (If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me.) support
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Fri Apr 10 09, 7:58AM categories: talk amongst yourselves permalink 5 pre-Disqus comments Disqus comments tip jarshare
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posted by Jurgan (Fri Apr 10 09, 10:05AM)
The funny thing is that the internal part of the show is, to me, a good idea. The concept of hiring and firing being decided by a democratic process within a company, rather than by the whim of one person who may or may not have any legitimate reason, strikes me as an incredibly positive development for American capitalism. But then, of course, they have to ruin it by televising the whole process, inviting the people at home to wallow in the misery of others (I can already see message boards with thread titles like "Fire That Bitch!"). One step forward, two steps back, I guess.
posted by Saladinho (Fri Apr 10 09, 11:14AM)
Ha! Yes, MaryAnn, this is the kind of thing I had in mind when the solar flare hit and I was like, good riddance.
Network is truer than true now, isn't it?
posted by Ken (Fri Apr 10 09, 11:47AM)
Not only is this a disgusting idea for a television show, it's a horrible idea for the companies involved. It's sure to destroy morale and many positive relationships between employees, as the employees that don't lose their jobs will be all too aware of all of the negative feelings their employees have towards them.
posted by Tonio Kruger (Fri Apr 10 09, 5:16PM)
Wow! A reality show that caters to the more callous elements of human nature. What a surprise.
posted by Arco (Sun Apr 12 09, 11:55PM)
I'm extra embarrassed. I'm from Holland originally and that company, Endemol, is dutch. The two media giants of my country, Joop van den Ende and John de Mol, merged in the 90's and became Endemol, spewing Big Brother into the world and partially starting the whole Reality TV wave.
And now this. I'm assuming that other 'dutch tv company' that did the thing with the dying woman *groan* is them as well. Like many americans I'm just going to start claiming I'm from Canada when abroad....