Patrick West
The harsh truth of the camera eye
When Esther Rantzen complains that Simon Cowell, Alan Sugar et al are too cruel when judging participants, she forgets one thing; that’s life.
"Is it cruel to be truthful? Or is it kind to be a liar? It is an age-old quandary, but according to some television people these days, the latter is the more ethical avenue of pursuit. So when it comes to television and morality, nothing receives more unfavourable attention currently than ‘reality TV’. No one likes reality, because no one likes the truth..."
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Patrick West is a freelance writer. Born in London in 1974 he graduated from Manchester University in 1997 with an MA in Cultural History. He has written for The Times, the New Statesman, and many others. He is author of the books Conspicuous Compassion (Civitas, 2004), The Poverty of Multiculturalism (Civitas, 2005) and Beating Them At Their Own Game, How The Irish Conquered English Soccer (Liberties Press, 2006). He writes weekly about television for spiked-online.com
