Contemplating TV Competition / Talent Search Shows

TV Competition//Talent Search shows are so prevalent now that it's almost sickening. You name it, they have it. Some of these shows include: The Biggest Loser, American Idol, America's Next Top Model, America's Next Great Restaurant, America’s Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Hell's Kitchen, Deal or No Deal, Big Brother, Survivor, Top chef, The Apprentice and The Restaurant.

These shows show contestants going head to head and battling each other to win at all costs. Although I believe the "premise" is, "May the best man or woman win," what these TV shows actually forge is brutal competition, where people are stepped on, out talked, out manipulated, out smarted, over shadowed and out done to leave one man or woman standing as the winner. Collaboration, team work and people nurturing each other to bring out the best in each other to contribute their talents positively to the whole world at large is out of the question.

To me this is not sending a positive message to viewers especially impressionable young viewers in an already competitive and capitalistic country. These shows don't forge unity, understanding, empathy, cohesion and brotherly or sisterly love. They forge attitudes to directly or indirectly eliminate everyone in one's path to become the last man or woman standing. The person standing is celebrated and receives all the accolades and prizes. No one is a loser in my book, but what then becomes of all the contestants who didn't win?

The "losers" who have been eliminated one by one have been shown they are inferior to the winner, so they can either go back to the drawing board of their lives and fade back into obscurity or if they are lucky, know their way around and can parlay their extinguished 15 minutes of fame into other lucrative ventures through luck, sheer hard work and God's grace, then good for them.

Unlike the "American way” that is usually the "me, myself and I mentality, other cultures prefer and foster cohesion and team work in their people. It isn't ok for any one of them to win while all others are left behind. Their motto is we are better off when we are all moving forward together. There's a Yoruba adage which states, “One rich person amongst many poor people is also poor.” This adage is to help the rich understand their responsibility to encourage and assist those around them to prosper as they prosper, so they don't become a hindrance or a burden on them.

This is a better model to go by to make the world go round and the people who live in it happier, peaceful, nurturing and loving. As another Yoruba adage rightly states, “When we are many walking together in harmony, we all look good.

A word is enough for the wise…