The ending of Big Brother may signal the end of an era. Some people have seen it as a revealing psychological experiment; others as the ultimate expression of the celebrity culture – people wanting to be famous without having any particular skills to offer. However, foolish one is bound to appear with such unblinking exposure, it is something to have been seen by so many people. The comparison with the trapped copper miners in Chile is revealing. Deprivation is the mark of much of humanity. They are trapped either by poverty or the effects of some natural event or by war. This widespread phenomenon has its clinical expression in the lives of the thirty or so men who survived several weeks before they were discovered by eking out their rations and sharing them. The best, rather than the worst about humanity was demonstrated by their conduct. That they are not exceptional human beings is demonstrated by their more choosy conduct since they have been getting supplies, one returning a meal he did not fancy. No doubt we shall be told, if and when they get out alive, of difficulties in human relationships, of some who behaved less honourably than others. If a laboratory of human behaviour were to be required then the real danger and deprivation of those who had no guarantee that they would be discovered, let alone be released from their captivity, seems more likely to be revelatory about human behaviour than providing for all material needs in a pampering house observed by cameras. It is more typical of the human condition; it draws on various abilities from the practical to the organisational; it tests morale and sympathy; it reveals weakness as well as courage. Now, of course, though there is some reassurance, there is a finite if uncertain waiting time until their excape hole is completed. They have been given advice as to how to preserve their fitness, what to do. They have been sent entertainments, videos etc. to pass the long dark hours. It would be possible for some sermoniser to suggest that this is a parable of human life; its uncertainties, its testing of our character, its offer of foretastes of the upper world of light. Possible but dangerous. The very idea of a voyeuristic God is appalling. Watching Big Brother is bad enough. Real danger makes the watcher properly distressed at his helplessness. Where would the Son of God be but down the mine! A God who can help but does not is no God. We have to accept the weakness of God as his wisdom. Thus for ourselves now this little picture of human life commands our sympathy, our prayer and our admiration. Human life in its entirety is too much for us to comprehend and we may learn something from these men. However, we should not wish their fate upon them and must use whatever spiritual disciplines we can to avoid the voyeuristic stance. There is too much of it about and it is bad for our souls. RA |
