Daniel Randall (Solidarity 3-190) says he doesn’t want to get snobbish about the fact that people like watching the X Factor. Fair enough.
Except socialists should not abandon critical judgement in an effort to be laid back and non-judgemental. The X Factor, and most shows like it, really are toxic viewing.
The drum ‘n’ bass producer Goldie, interviewed in the Observer on 30 January 2011, could not have put it better: “Think about the people who aren’t making it on there [i.e. on the X Factor]. Think about how dysfunctional they feel, how failed they feel, a panel of people going: ‘Sorry you‘re going to fail’. I find it quite crushing. I can’t watch it. I actually physically want to vomit. It’s a circus. Simon Cowell is the George Bush of the music industry... I’d rather sit down and have dinner with that guy from Korea [Kim Jong-il].”
