I'm sure the television companies, and people such as Simon Cowell argue that they are just bringing entertainment to the masses, but I think there's a certain amount of cruelty involved too.
If you've ever watched Britain's Got Talent you'll be able to see the mob mentality of the crowd. They boo and heckle and chant the acts they don't like, as well as join in with the ones they do. But it's worse than panto.
Take for example, Donald:
He auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, and was far from talented. The audience kept encouraging him to continue singing purely to watch him be humiliated. He didn't seem to understand what was going on. Many of the early auditionees on programmes such as this, and X-Factor, don't seem to understand that they're in fact being ridiculed, as well as rejected.
It's strange that the things that sell these formats are some weird human desires to see other people humiliated. Most people don't watch much past the first audition shows - after that it's all a bit boring.
Ethically it's objectionable, morally it's disgusting, but personally I love a lot of it.
This article explains the reasons why, and here's a little snippet:
We evaluate ourselves in comparison with other people. "It's a balm to our self-esteem," he says. He believes we look at the loser contestants on Idol saying I'm better than that. I would never do that and look what happens to people who do that.
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