Reality Britain

by Dalitso Njolinjo

It is said that more people in Britain vote for their favorite participant of reality shows such as X-Factor (Britain’s version of American Idol) and Big Brother than they do for their local representative or party in the general elections.

The usual piffle flows out of the mouths of most politicians to explain such disengagement (“People vote numerous times”, “We will work harder to attract young people to our party”) but nobody asks the real question, Why do young people identify more with Jade Goody than they do with Gordon Brown?

With all respect to the dead and I recognize the needed publicity that Ms Goody gave to Cervical Cancer, but this woman was as ignorant and self absorbed as they come. This was the same woman that gained her fame for being unintelligent, loud and being a racially bully (Google or Youtube Jade Goody, Shilpa Shetty and Big Brother). I have no problem with her making money from her reality show exposure, but I do have a problem with young-girls thinking that she is a role model and not having a British politician in site that can rival this view.

If there is one thing that the 2008 election of Barack Obama has made me realize is that there is a lack of political figures that young British citizens can identify with. There isn’t a British politician that has credibility amongst the middle – working class young people growing up in the United Kingdom. Therefore the political establishment remains the same, the discourse in Westminster is of no interest to the youth of Britain, the issues get regurgitated and ultimately nothing gets done and Britain remains standing still, devoid of vision or leadership.

Although I felt sympathy for the family of Ms Goody (my father also died of cancer), I was disgusted to find that every news channel, publication and website carried Jade Goody’s death and funeral as their top story. One publication went as far as calling her ‘Princess Diana’. Really?

This was happening at the same time as the Home Secretary was caught up in an expenses scandal. So the country missed out on the chance to debate whether this arcane, abused tax funded allowance for ministers was actually necessary on top of their tax funded wage.

This was also happening at the same time as the conclusion of the G20 summit. The G20 was pushed to second story for most publications. Instead of analyzing whether the communiqué was worth the paper it was written on, we as a country were obsessing over a woman who called a soft spoken Bollywood star, Poppadom.

While all this was happened, I thought about the news editors and the newsreaders.

What were they thinking when they were discussing the headline news for their organization?

What was the thought process?

How did they feel when they concluded that Jade Goody should top the G20 summit?

I am not a fan of Mika Brzezinski but I had profound respect for when she rejected to start her news hour with a ridiculous Paris Hilton story.

Why does this matter?

It matters because this shows the state of our politics here in the UK.

That more people are worried about the new ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ TV show, then they are about the direction and leadership of their country. That people are willing to be outraged over television personalities then they are about how the political discussion is shaping out in their capital city. That students are more interested in discussing the conclusion of their favorite soup, then they are about the bill that just passed Parliament.

I love my country and believe that it still has a lot to offer in terms of domestic and international politics. We just need a leader who can engage with normal citizen, a leader that doesn’t just appear in the down trodden neighbourhoods around election time, a leader who can build on the great renewable energy goals we have set here in this country.

Most in American might not agree with Obama and his politics, but what he has been able to do is paint a picture of an America which the youth are excited about and willing to work for.

We need a leader who can do the same.

Dalitso Njolinjo lives in Northamptonshire, England. He is an aspiring writer and communications consultant. He writes that he “enjoys all things politics, sports and French. The ungodly trinity.” He also writes on his own blog.