Give me some Privacy Laws please

I need to get this out of my system. It’s a big grouse, better let out than kept bottled in.

Last night, I was watching a program on Channel V (I refrain from mentioning the name; in times when number of references indicate popularity, I don’t want the said program to appear more popular than it actually is.) The program was supposed to help you get back at your ex boy/girl friend. I do not intend to gripe about the rising trend of live in, ex boy/girl friend, however annoying; who am I to judge the way a person chooses to live.

What has gotten on my nerves, however, is the commercialization of this particular emotion of “love turned to hate”. Boy/girl dumping the partner is common, it has being going on since ages. And the resulting emotional upheaval, the need to take a swipe at the ex is but natural. But what is unacceptable is a TV channel providing the script, conspiring, and telecasting the embarrassing moments for the nation to watch, all the while justifying why they had taken the side they have taken. If this isn’t voyeurism of the worst kind, I wonder what is. I wonder if the girl/boy would ever be able to enter into a healthy relationship again, old scars refusing to heal and new wounds defacing the psyche. And to imagine that you had to take the help of faceless public for your private payback – I think such people would command the least of my esteem, way below spiders and maybe just above phlegm.

I often wonder what makes these boys and girls turn to national media even in shame. Surely, its not the money; the compensation in most of the reality shows is paltry. Maybe fame, but tell me, with the proliferation of reality shows, both in national and regional media, can anyone remain in the public memory for long? And in pursuit of “sparkler-burst” fame (fame that, like sparkler, lights up but for an instant and then lets darkness in), young impressionable minds are being manipulated to exposing their most private moments in the garish glare.

If there is one thing that’s definite, its my feeling that if at all we have a version of “Truman Show” in real life, it would take place in India. And that would be a sad, albeit not too distant day.

So I have ranted and hopefully I will feel better.