To think that x factor encourages bullying?

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I probably abu, I haven't watched it in ages but caught some of it last night and felt quite uncomfortable at the way a few of the contestants were mocked. The truly awful ones had obviously just been put forward for comedy value and then had the judges laughing at them and taking the piss while their families watched and however many millions of viewers laughed along at home. I can't help thinking that if that happened in any other context there would be complaints. I know that they choose to do it but they must have people telling them they are wonderful singers just so that we can all have a good laugh at their expense!

I hate the bloody show [I'm a Strictly fan].

I agree that they use some people just to get a laugh out of the audience, it's awful.

Remember when Susan Boyle first walked on the stage?, the giggling and eye rolling from the audience was awful. At least she had the last laugh although the show did cause her some distress at times iirc.

No, I don't think it encourages bullying. Real bullying that affects people's lives is not comparable to a one of thing where someone is making a tit of themselves and people laugh.

I agree that it's wrong for people to be laughed at when they have a learning disability that means that they can't really know what other people's reactions are going to be, but by far the majority of people on X factor are people that are just completely deluded about being any good. They are adults who can make their own decisions about whether they want to risk being embarrassed if their performance is crap.

OP I agree with you. Horrible behaviour from adults I.m.o

It's had it's day, same rubbish, very predictable, not my idea of entertainment. I bloody hate it, but DD loves it. I also remember the Susan Boyle audition, especially the cruel judges smirking when she said her age, but god did she wipe the look of superiority off their faces when she opened her mouth.

YABU to watch X Factor at all - it encourages manufactured shite and most of them are never heard of again! And every time you watch it and vote you just add to Simon Cowell's bank account!

And wasn't Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent?

I have never seen anyone being dragged kicking and screaming and forced to perform yet..

To some extent, yes it does encourage bullying, in the way that some really weak numbers get let through, obviously for the sake of being shown up on national television.

To be fair, most of the people who get mocked are rather unpleasantly cocky and have clearly never bothered to learn how to behave in public. But I suppose that doesn't mean that it is a good thing for the rest of us to be sitting there sniggering.

Again to be fair (don't really know what I'm doing wasting my time being fair to x-factor ), when the lovely teen last night broke down and started revealing far too much about her past, the judges were really gentle with her and you could see how relieved they were when she pulled it off.

If there was any kind of moral lesson for young people who watch attentively, it should be that rudeness and smugness never, ever pay off. I was watching it with my 13yo and that was definitely the lesson he got from it. Every time another "I'm the answer to your prayers, I'm just going to blow you away"-candidate walked on, he muttered "I've got a bad feeling about this one"- and was invariably proved right. When a successful candidate went off repeating to himself "rehearse, rehearse, rehearse", he nodded in approval.

(whether he is actually going to apply any of this thinking to his own GCSE's remains to be seen )

They are choosing to do it. No one is forced. If someone makes a tit of their selves its their own doing.

This is why I'm glad my parents and friends tell me I am shit at singing

By knobbers

For knobbers

That's pretty much it afaic

I don't think it's the attitude of the judges that is the problem (especially now Simon Cowell is no longer on the panel) as much as the way the programme is presented.

It gives the idea that there is no pre-selection, that candidates with no previous experience, who have never sung in front of an audience before, just go straight up and blow everybody away because they have been born with such wonderful, hitherto unsuspected talent.

All this hidden violet stuff is really a bit of a sham. The truth is what you would expect: that most of the people who do get somewhere have had proper training by professionals and already have a fair wodge of experience of performing in front of an audience. They are people who have been focusing and working hard for years. You'd never guess it from the pre-audition interview, but it can easily be checked by google.

Susan Boyle was not an untrained genius who had developed her voice by singing in the shower: she had a dad who was a singer, she had been to stage school, she had taken lessons for a vocal coach and had toured with her Catholic church choir for years. Wonderfully gifted- yes. Inexperienced- no. You just couldn't do what she did without proper training.

Good point cory I hadn't thought of it that way. I know no one is forced to go on but they are obviously under the impression that they are wonderful singers so I think its safe to bet that someone is telling them that and encouraging them to go and make fools of themselves. I think I'm just bothered by the fact that this is prime time tv seen by millions giving the message that its ok to be cruel to people in this way. I don't think I could watch it with my dcs and then tell them not to take the piss out of other children at school without feeling like a hypocrite iyswim?

It is not bullying. I find the suggestion offensive and demeaning to bullying.
They choose to be there. How they don't know they are rubbish singers, beggars belief.

MrsDeVere I couldn't agree more! Oblomov I wasn't saying it is bullying, just that it encourages it by giving the message that its ok to put people in the spotlight so that we can all laugh at them. I find it hard to believe that some people don't know how awful they sound but clearly they don't or they wouldn't go on.

Loads of people on there have LD

I think the programme is fucking hideous and it's bullying on a huge platform, on a huge scale.

I think the book Bully Nation needs to be read by some people who think it isn't bullying.

I think you are right op.

No, bullying victims don't put themselves in the limelight dreaming of fame and fortune and no book seeking to redefine an accepted term will convince me otherwise.