run amok

Big Brother vs Merlin's silent protest

I'm sure you all saw Merlin's silent protest when he got evicted from the Big Brother house on Sunday night; holding up a banner 'free the refugees'. The audience reaction? Somewhat negative would be an understatement. A poll on the Big Brother website stated 62% were against what he did. A biased field possibly, but an alarming statistic!

Gretel (the host) said later to his face that he was aggressive in his actions. Ballsy, perhaps. A silent protest is the most passive of all. How can one man win against such a big media frenzy? The answer lies in the question; attracting a media frenzy to the subject means he has won. Of course some tape on a sheet won't do much, but the action of where and how he did it? Brilliant. The ability of one man to impact a forerunner of popular culture and spark thoughts in people that would otherwise be impossible to do through any means, is extremely impressive. At work today, I was asking of peoples opinions on the issue. In particular, I asked of what their thoughts were on whether his actions were right or wrong. Many answered that he was a coward, and didnt have the guts to speak. Was he?

I believe that was he to remove that tape from his mouth, he could have faltered and gone off track from the message he was desperately trying to get across. The media is now trying to label his actions as cowardly. HOW CAN STANDING UP FOR OUR RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS BE COWARDLY? ESPECIALLY on national television where millions of people across the country are watching. Using Big Brother as a rantspace for his political opinions would have simply been cut. They would have tried to manipulate his message and his actions. The Big Brother Channel Ten press machine do NOT like being messed with, and by refusing to speak, he has created more of a stir than anything he could have said.

This is an attempt for popular culture, big business, governments to suppress individual thought, to limit individuals capacity to influence the world, and before you scream "Paranoid!" at me, think about it. He got on national TV and made an issue out of something that goes largely ignored, and there wasn't a goddamn thing national TV could do about it; in my humble opinion that fucking rules. If we allow the media to portray his actions as 'bad' or 'cowardly' then people will be less likely to follow his lead and stand up for what they believe in. A lame thing to do in a democratic nation, I know! I believe Merlin had to have some serious fucking nuts on him to go up against Channel 10 and Big Brother; that is a BIG press machine to use to express a message. He used his 15 minutes of fame to actually say something worthwhile, and he did it all without saying a word, so good on him.

Who ever thought the concept of free speech (or lack thereof) would be so frowned upon?