Reality Shows And Children

Here was the girl, a teenager of 16 years on the stage. She was waiting for the comments of judges on her performance. First came judge number one and started a scathing attack on her performance. The child began crying. I thought that they will try to find out why she was crying and try to console her, pamper her and if needed send her home. Nothing like that happened. The child was alone crying on the stage and the second judge started criticizing her performance. The child was becoming hysterical and by that time the third judge was on her throat for giving a lousy performance.

The girl went home and next day went into coma. Not actual coma but something nearing that. After that the child was hospitalized and is trying to recover. I have seen the producer and the judges of the program defending themselves on the news channels. None of them has expressed any regret. They have been blaming the parents for sending a mentally unfit child to the program. This whole thing sounds sadistic. These people were getting some sadistic pleasure out of hammering a crying child. This was live on television in a civilized nation like India.

What do we call this? Should it not be called child abuse? What about the punishment to the producer and the judges? The child is suffering but they are happily going around giving interviews and defending their action. Why are all of us silently watching this and not demanding any action?