Reality television a cause for moral decadence

The reality show is popular for showing sensational scenes considered taboo in Zimbabwean cultural society.

Speaking at a recent briefing conducted by USAid discussion named “Reality Television reality or myth”, people castigated the impact of the acts performed by most of the participants siting the severity that globalization has impacted on the African culture.

“Reality television enable things that were for decades considered taboo to appear simple hence in the end cause young people who watch it to practice those things,”said one participant in the discussion.

However, the participants in the reality television shows say the shows are not the vehicles for immorality but are mainly for entertainment purposes.

One of the former participants in the just ended Big Brother Amplified 2011 Vimbai Vanessa Mutinhiri, said that Big Brother is not a moral standard but “it is for entertainment”.

“Big Brother is not a moral standard, it is for entertainment, you do not have to live by it,just enjoy it as entertainment.Take it for what it is, we are not here to set moral standards.The main aim is to find a way to get the price money, that is way people act in the manners they do, people do many things for money,” Mutinhiri said.

She said immorality must not be pin pointed to reality television but on globalisation as it is the vehicle for cultural imperialism.

“I blame it on globalization not on the impact of Big Brother,sexual icons like Merin Monro existed before Big Brother,” she said in the discussion.

Beauty queen and United Kingdom-based Makhosi Musambasi also a former Big Brother participant said that it cannot be called taboo to see real people performing real acts which are in most cases performed behind closed doors on television.

“It is not taboo to to see people doing what is done behind closed doors.There is nothing taboo about seeing people having sex on TV when our forefathers used to marry many wives,” she said.

Reality television which is defined as programming which uses ordinary people instead of professional actors battle for a prize money has mean many people performing dubious acts to attain the prize in the case of Vimbai who says her thing for her fellow countryman Wendall was just an act and a strategy to put her hands on the much needed money.

The top prize was $100 000 which Wendell grabbed for Zimbabwe.