Fatal game-show stampede -an exploitation of social despair

international | anti-capitalism | other press Thursday February 16, 2006 13:28 by Terence

Opium of the masses leads to death

The story reported in the URL below reports on the death of 74 people and injury of 627 in the Philippines after a stampede to get into a stadium go gain entry into a game show competition. Those killed and injured were mainly those in dire poverty

What this incidence shows is that all these types of game shows, pop-idle shows and so on, all serve to act as an opium for the masses because life under capitalism offers no other hope.

The report recounts how a popular game show in the Philippines called “Wowowee” produced by ABS-CBN is pitched at the very poorest.

In the Philippines about 40 percent of the population live on less than $2 per day. People naturally will do almost anything to get themselves out of this poverty. And the prizes offered seemed to offer just that.

As a result a massive crowd ensured when the show came to the local town and in the rush, a stampede ensured where many were killed.

This story has a lesson to teach us here in the West too, because our own Lotto's, Want-To-Be-A-Millionaire show, Pop-Idle shows and all the rest are just variations on this and while people are not clearly as financially poor as in the Philippines, there is still that poverty of spirit and its a measure of the empty lives and lack of hope created within the population by our capitalist system that leads to such craving to either become rich or famous or both. Because most know that in the West to be rich, allows you to do so much more with your life and have a possibly more fulfilling one, than the daily grind of work, job insecurity and dependency on state health. All these programs serve to distract the masses and feed off them. They are indeed the new present day Opiums of the Masses.

But returning to the story reported here are some excerpts from the WSWS site:

“Wowowee” is famous for its prize giveaways, and is very popular in the Philippines, where it is shown six days a week at midday. For this special anniversary show, prizes included cash of up to P1 million ($19,230), a car, taxis, and a house with land.

AND

“Wowowee,” produced by ABS-CBN, is pitched toward the most poor and desperate sections of the Philippine populace. According to Agence France-Presse, “Wowowee” host Willie Revillame stated after the stampede that “he had made it a point to stage the game shows at other provincial centers several times during the past year.... We would pick places where the poor are hard-up.”

AND

“This is a program that intends to help Filipinos, especially the poor,” he claimed. In reality the show is based on the exploitation of the emotional responses of impoverished people, where chances of winning a prize are miniscule.

AND

Such is the level of desperation that police chief Vidal Querol explained, “The dead were lined up on the streets, but people still did not want to go home. It was bizarre. They persisted in entering the PhilSports Arena and demanded that the show go on. Many people were still waiting for tickets although bodies were piling up.” According to Querol, even after dead bodies lay strewn on the entrance road, “People stepped over the bodies and continued to make their way into the stadium.”