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| CARNIVAL OF BULLIES | |
 July 3, 2001 
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| ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING:
No doubt this needs no introduction. If you haven't seen it by now, you
probably have heard about it.
MODERATOR: Welcome to the "Weakest Link." ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: The "Weakest Link" is the latest entry in the TV quiz show sweepstakes, a sort of quasi-intellectual gladiator fest in which this prim, snobby Brit woman gets to insult, put down, and jeer at her contestants. We're not talking subtlety here. We're certainly not talking Regis, the affable host of the other mega-hit "who wants to be a millionaire." Nor are we talking "Jeopardy," the old standby game show. No, this is something newer, meaner, hipper, a tart-tongued hybrid-- part quiz show, part "Survivor." It's not about the questions, but the verbal combat. The audience sitting on the edge of their seats like kids in school, waiting to hear the schoolmarm humiliate her next victim, deride him or her as the weakest link. MODERATOR: Amy, the golf teacher who sadly has a handicap when it comes to knowledge. ( Laughter ) ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Goodie, goodie, pass the popcorn please. MODERATOR: With five votes you are the weakest link. Good-bye. ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: At risk of sounding prim myself, what is this stuff? Are we so sure it's good for our children? On the one hand, it's as tame as can be. No overt sex or violence, those old bugaboos. It's hardly "The Sopranos" or "NYPD Blue," or any of the other smirky sitcoms that might unnerve parents. But nonetheless, there's a very disturbing quality to the "Weakest Link," a quality of what I call fake malice. We turn nastiness into a joke. We put a bully atop the celebrity pulpit and twitter nervously as she sharpens up her next withering remark. It's all very amusing, very uplifting, and very nasty. No question the nasty tone has been coming on in the culture for years now. From trash talk TV and shock jock, to rap itself, with its endlessly, inventively violent x-rated lyrics. Turn on any of the sports radio shows and you're liable to hear the same swaggery tone, a daily onslaught of machismo and malice. In fairness, certain of the girl group singers have their own tough guy trash-talking lyrics to offer us. And then there are the political chat shows, which have been ratcheting up their own bullying quotient. "The O'Reilly Factor" and "Hard Ball" are perfect examples. But somehow the "Weakest Link" signals a new turn. Now bullying is mainstream, prime time family fun. And its very spoofiness, its game showiness, allows us to tolerate the abusive host, smirk with her at her hapless panelists. It's reminiscent in a way of pro wrestling, another recent TV staple, which is clearly, candidly fake, hulks in a choreographed clinch of pretend violence. Lay him out on the mat, toss him out of the ring, do a menacing two-step over his head, and we'll giggle and cheer because we know it's all fake. We're colluding in our own self- deception, colluding in the cheerful white-washing of violence, be it the verbal violence of "Link" host, Anne Robinson, or the physical violence of the pro wrestlers. All this comes at a time when we're up in arms about bullying, seeing it as the root cause of many of these schoolyard shootings. From Columbine to Santee, we've rooted in the ashes and the only collective culprit we can come up with is bullying. The shooters felt bullied, less than, jeered at, laughed at. Great. Turn on the "Weakest Link," and you'll see a variation on the same theme, bullying turned into quiz show sport for consenting adults, all played for fun and profit. And no doubt, given the ratings, we can only assume that this carnival of bullies will continue. MODERATOR: Good-bye. ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Reporter: I'm Anne Taylor Fleming. |
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