Oh, Baby Brother!

Um, okay. So, John de Mol and the braintrust behind Big Brother want to include a pregnant woman in the cast of the upcoming season of the show in the Netherlands. Now, she's not just pregnant, but due to give birth in just six weeks, smack in the middle of the show's run. The producers plan to broadcast the birth. Here's the story from CNN.

The Dutch government is investigating the request from the BB producers, because Dutch law sets strict limits on the conditions under which children and infants can appear on screen as "actors." The mother, however, is apparently thrilled and thinks her child will one day be proud of his or her forced participation on the show. Talk about your world premieres.

I've made no secret of my complete mystification at what motivates people to subject themselves to the humiliating experience that is Big Brother (even taking into account that the winner wins some money). But, forcing an innocent newborn to be one of the house guests is simply going too far. In this country, we may be deeply divided about the legal status and rights of the unborn, but I think we can find some common ground on this subject. No one -- and, I mean, NO ONE -- should be involuntarily subjected to the banal insanity of the Big Brother house and the unblinking eye of the roughly two million cameras therein without providing prior knowing and voluntary consent.

God, that kid's gonna hate his mom one day. Can you say therapy?

Incidentally, the world-wide success of the Big Brother franchise is evidence that we live in a truly global society. Unfortunately, it seems the evidence lies in a shared depraved penchant for voyeurism and an unhealthy addiction to reality TV. What, we couldn't all rally around Monet, Mozart, or even Bergman?