Moment of Truth
A fairly controversial American gameshow that has already aired for three seasons and counting, "the Moment of Truth" does reflect some concepts of Communications learnt over the past two weeks.
/ What happens is that before the show, the contestants are asked over fifty questions about their personal lives while being hooked up to a lie detector. On the actual day, contestants are to answer each answer truthfully, in front of a large audience as well as some of their family members and friends. Each honest answer brings them closer to the cash prizes. If their response is a lie, they will be at risk of losing their money. It might sound easy, but as the stakes are upped, each question becomes increasingly personal and this might affect the contestants' relationships in their social circles.
/ So what recent concepts of Communications have we learnt that can be seen in this gameshow? One of Bacon's Four Idols can actually be applied here - and that is the Idol of the Tribe, which talks about our fallacies in thinking due to human nature. As human beings, we must have, at some point or another, thought about the "should-have-been" or "could-have-been"s. That shows our tendency for wishful thinking.
/ For example, a 27-year-old lady on the gameshow was asked this question, "Do you think you would have been better off marrying your ex-boyfriend XXX rather than your current husband YYY?" At this point, the lady pauses to think about her answer, to which she finally answers, "Yes, I do." Clearly this shows that she has definitely thought of leading a better life with her ex-boyfriend even after starting a new relationship and getting married. Though our tendency for wishful thinking can be difficult to avoid, we must also keep in mind that these designs do sometimes end up hurting the people around us. Hence as much as possible, we must keep away from the Idol of the Tribe to prevent sources of misunderstanding, or as in this case, the disintegration of social relationships. Oh, and her answer of "Yes" to the proposed question was true, by the way.
/ Now keep those comments coming! Feel free to agree or disagree from your point of view :)
/ P.S: "the Moment of Truth" airs here every Wednesday night, Channel 5 at 11.30 PM. The next episode is shown 23 Sept, so stay tuned if this post has caught your interest ;)
posted by :DEBBIE @ 12:43 PM
6 Comments:
yay ! i shall be the first to comment. haha ! anyway , yeahhh i think it's true. the idea of wishful thinking is really dangerous as people will usually be hurt when they know about what we really want and think. however, i feel that wishful thinking is something that is hard to control as it just comes subconsciously and it is difficult to resist what we know we want deep down inside.
Also, i think that the idea of perception can be used here too! haha like what we had learnt yesterday at our communication lesson, perception is what people think are real, but in actual fact, they are not! so in this game show ' the moment of truth', if the contestants hadn't gone onto the game show, the perception which they had shown to the outside world would not be their true selves isn't it? sooo i feel that such game shows destroys perception. haha ! come comment on my blog tooo!!! www.claudiajacinta.blogspot.com! have a good weekend(:
Hello deb!
Yes, I totally agree that we should stay away Idols of tribe to prevent misunderstandings.
I feel that we humans always think what we want or wish to think. And this kind of causes many social problems too.
Do comment on my blog too!!
http://commmediadiscourse.wordpress.com
:) Kai Ting
"The Moment of Truth" is a mean show! Haha. It makes the participants divulge and communicate their hidden thoughts and wishes to the audience and viewers at home. Yes, I agree with your part on "Idols of the Tribe", it is part of human nature to have the tendency to wishful thinking. And that this may cause serious miscommunication.
Also, this show makes me question media ethics. The kind of secrets revealed on this show can cause serious, unexpected consequences to its participants. Isn't there any more privacy in mass media anymore?
Thanks. Comment on my COM101 blog too!
http://transmittedthoughts.wordpress.com
~Sarimah Rokim
I hate this show. but a guilty pleasure, hence i watch still :P
why? because they are trying to make the contestants sell out their principles and darkest secrets for the sake of cash.
Furthermore, technology will fail some time. Are we right to assume that the lie detector (which the contestants do before the filming of the show) have zero error?
comment back on mine! http://pitstophere.wordpress.com
isaac chan zhi yang
i LOVE the fact that you included stuff we've learnt from com101 clearly. :)
i agree with claudia, that wishful thinking comes subconsciously and the show's an unfair test. In fact, the lie detector could have detected their anxiety and proof the answer false. It isnt entirely fair. I think it's a destructive show when it comes to the questions about relationships. but if a participant is in it for the money all the way, they should be prepared for the worst. =)
Hello :) Yup. I pretty much agree with the opinions that you placed forth. The show often places the contestants in a very difficult and precarious position (I think precarious is too strong a word, but I couldn't think of a substitute haha) for they might stand to lose their loved ones just by answering a question. And Dayana's right, they should be mentally prepared for the worst. Overall, I think it's a pretty interesting post! Keep them coming :)
And do visit my blog at http://aqidahrahman.blogspot.com
Aqidah
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