Pj Fothergill

I got into some hot water yesterday for telling the general public that they were wrong for watching x-factor. 

My actual words were “Fuck you at home for watching”.  Now I see this form of nationwide affront no different to sticking the middle finger up at those who purchase products from Nestle or indeed get their fuel at Exxon Mobil.  

I don’t much like the idea of parading clueless individuals in front of wealthy “know-it-alls” just so they and the public at home can smirk and chuckle at what we believe is a lack of talent.  Yes some of the contestants are deluded, some need a reality check, but surely there are ways of doing this without getting an entire nation to mock them!

Maybe my words were too harsh, and I clearly offended a lot of people.  So much so that amidst the onslaught of condescending retaliations I began to feel like Salman Rushdie post “The Satanic Verses”.  Being a self confessed hypochondriac I started to wonder if my pet cat had been killed or if my house would be on fire when I got home, a form of self-flattery and blatant arrogance I might add.  This led my brother to coin the term “X-Fatwa”, a genius bit of wordplay in my opinion. 

I was told to apologise for my rudeness and lack of respect for other people’s tastes and opinions because of the offence I had caused.  But why should I?
Surely taking offence is a choice!  That can’t be argued with!  So I don’t think I should have to apologise for people’s poor choices!  And surely the ones that were that offended are the ones that lashed out for reasons of guilt and shame rather than upset at a foul word.  People don’t like having their mistakes pointed out and thus retaliate with generous animosity. 

I think the only part that I should rectify would be the part where I missed out the precise reasoning behind my statement (one which I thought was pretty obvious), and clarify the shame I think the public should feel for supporting such a cruel programme that is past off as “entertainment” and “exploitation but what the public wants”.

So many of my friends took it as a personal attack on taste when in reality, taste has nothing to do with it.  I don’t blame someone for liking the taste of McDonald’s, or the taste of Nestle Chocolate Buttons, but I do blame them for not bothering to know the evils behind what they deem as “good taste”.  
“Wow, this chocolate is amazing, unlucky that the company inadvertently killed babies in developing countries and is in blatant violation of the World Health Code”
“Yeah, this BigMac is amazing, shame about their ridiculously low animal welfare standards and blatant contribution to global obesity and de-forestation”

I don’t hate anyone, let me make that vehemently clear! But I do get upset and aggravated by people’s laziness and unwillingness to research and find truth. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it is.  A dog shit is still dog shit whether covered in tinsel or not. 

No, on the grand scheme of things X-Factor is probably deemed fairly harmless.  It doesn’t kill, it doesn’t discriminate according to race, it doesn’t contribute as such to global warming.  But it does something that in my opinion can be just as bad. It bullies, it mocks, it lies, it judges wrongly, and gives false hope to the ignorant by leading them down a long path like an old donkey following a carrot on a string only to have the carrot snatched away and stumble bewildered and confused off the edge of a cliff. 

The few that make it will only be worth what they are until their sales begin to drop, then, like a race horse gone lame, they are shot between the eyes ready for the next one to fill the producer’s banks.  And I’m the one causing offence?

Yes, I am an opinionated individual, yes I have a hot-head.  But I am also kind, passionate and will use the extremely little power and metaphorical voice to alert people to things that are just plain wrong.  Watch what you like, like what you like. Just THINK about what you watch and THINK about what you like. 

Until the next time I cause outrage

P.J Fothergill