We watched a TV reality show last night. It doesn't matter which one because they're all the same; people are made to jump through hoops- in pursuit of some goal that is of importance to them, but of no conceivable interest to the viewing public- and the more they fuck up the more the camera loves them. I got pulled in- and there I was talking half to the screen and half to Ailz, proffering advice and reprimand as if I were the poor saps' guardian angel- or an expert in the activity they were failing at. I suppose a show of this kind could be rigged so you empathise with the poor strugglers, but they never are. Instead you are invited to identify with the guy at the top who has been hired to act as if this competition was his own brilliant idea- and who is pictured descending to judgement, advancing towards those whose butts he is about to kick, down lamplit streets, with fiercely polished shoes going smack, smack, smack on the flagstones.
