Gossip shows

I PRAY that some radical transformation take place in our TV shows. Some of them simply are depressing. They may manage to explode glee and fun for many people, but the overall effect is truly depressing.

Recently, out of curiosity I watched some gossip shows. To call them talk shows would be a grave misnomer. Talk shows have some sense and direction. Gossip shows are just indescribably and agonizingly low, even below zero.

I wonder why these shows are tolerated. Gossips in themselves are shameful. Yet here they are, promoted and patronized far and wide. Have we in general come down to this level of depravity?

Of what use, for example, would the information be that such and such a starlet is now heavy with the child of such and such an actor after a one-night thing some months ago during a location shooting?

You have to be worse than a carabao to find some value with such data.

Some may theorize that this situation is a consequence of the overall low culture of people these days. People just want to have fun. They are quite pressured and harassed by things like SARS, Iraq war, poverty, etc.

No question about that. And of course something has to be done about that. Still, I would say, that regardless of whether gossips are a consequence or cause of such culture, they are in themselves a bad thing that should be eliminated at all costs.

Gossips are like a tongue gone wild, a tongue run amok. It has detached itself from the brain and from the heart, and wants to exist by and for itself alone. It is quite self-centered, prone to all forms of irresponsibility.

For that is what gossips are. They spring from some crazy sense of freedom but divorced from any sense of responsibility. They freeze reason. They send to exile the elementary sense of modesty and decorum, the sense of privacy and intimacy.

They simply drip with rash judgments, uncharitable thoughts, frivolity and inanity. From another angle, they actually are like monsters. They have something exaggeratedly big, while another essential element is missing.

In the beginning they may look and sound amusing. But left unattended and unregulated, they will surely contaminate everyone with their monstrosity. Their poison may be laced in sweet syrup, but it's poison just the same!

No, these gossip shows have to be eliminated. These shows, if they are meant to truly entertain, should also be wary of the basic requirements of good taste. More than that, they should be conscious of their responsibility to the common good.

This is something that people in the media, from artists to producers, directors and sponsors, have to be quite keen about. Imagine allowing a fellow to do things on TV without any good idea of what common good is, other than what simply is funny and amusing, etc.?

We are already in the third millennium. It should be presumed with some basis that people have learned quite a lot. No, this is a call for media people to grow up a little bit more, to mature and work freely and eagerly for what is objectively good for everyone. The common good, you know!

That's why, I was happy to read that even the president of the University of the Philippines, Francisco Nemenzo, could not help but voice his concern over the deteriorating state of the media today in this particular aspect. He reminds them of their duty to help educate the people.

Other people have done things similar. All of us, I think, should learn to voice out our concern over certain developments especially in areas like the media where massive influence, good and bad, can be instantly made.

This is not a call for censorship. We are past that stage. Rather this is a call for everyone to fulfill his civic duties well, to learn to actively work in solidarity with others for the good of all.

The media people should police their own ranks themselves. They in the first place should be bound by some code of ethics. I wonder if such code exists. And if it does, whether it is clear enough as to effectively guide everyone in the industry.

They should never take the ethical and moral aspects of their profession, so delicate and so influential, for granted. That would be criminal!

After watching Boy Abunda, Kris Aquino, Paolo Bediones and others perform in their gossip shows, I was pained. What a pity, such great talents wasted on such ridiculous shows!