Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Big Brother
I am told that all the talk on the Big Brother forums at the moment concerns remarks made by one housemate whose proposed solution for homelessness is to recruit those suffering this unfortunate fate into the army.
I am reminded of the episode of Yes Prime Minister in which Jim Hacker proposed conscription as the solution to unemployment. Unfortunately for him his scheme fell foul of a number of valid obstacles culminating in the realisation that a professional army is actually quite choosey as to who recruit.
In this case the objections to this perfectly vile proposal are so numerous that I do not know where to begin. I will however work from the assumption that the contestant was referring to rough sleepers rather than the large group of people who have presented themselves as homeless at one time or another.
In this case he should be aware that amongst those people who sleep rough there are some who are former members of the armed forces but have fallen on hard times due to an inability to cope with non-institutionalised life. The vast majority of rough sleepers have huge problems with substance misuse or mental health issues, many of them would not be able to cope with military discipline and would draw disproportionately on the welfare services available to servicemen and women.
The reason I draw attention to these typically misinformed comments is because they underline an obsession with tidiness in our society. People do not like to see those less fortunate than themselves on the streets. They would rather hand them over to some other authority, or sweep them out of the way, than deal with their problems. They want to help but not if it involves anything more complex than buying a Big Issue.
Those who sleep rough are human beings just like everybody else. They also have free will and a right to make their own choices. If we are to help them we have to work with them and provide the appropriate support to help them come to terms with their problems and issues. We cannot impose solutions on them beyond the normal rule of law that applies to everybody.
I am sorry if that sounds incredibly woolly and liberal, but it is not. It is a realistic assessment of the situation in the light of talking to many rough sleepers and discussing this issue with those who work in this field. Perhaps Big Brothers' next task for the housemates should be to have them join rough sleepers for a few nights so that they can see for themselves what they have to go through and learn how they got there in the first place.
N.B. For those who are interested in what has happened in Australia's Big Brother then I recommend this account. We have already seen in Britain how this programme exploits vulnerable people for public entertainment, in Australia things have really got out of hand.
