Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Australian Big Brother Evictee's Political Protest

Ella · 06-13-2004, 10:04 PM

Ahhh yes...bit of a shocker. I'm a BB addict and have been every year since it's been here in Oz (yes, I am a tragic individual).

I'm sitting on the fence on this one. I totally support his protest for the freedom of asylum seekers, yet I don't feel that was the time or the place to air his views.

Here's Merlin breaking his silence on the official BB4 site...

Why is this an important issue for you?

I believe very passionately that mandatory detention of asylum seekers coming to this country is just inhumane. It goes against the basic principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. You look at the fact that there's kids who have never seen anything except for the detention centre they live in - it's just sad and unjustifiable.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I know the answers and that I have the solutions but I know that the current system is not one that we can sustain with a clear conscience, and something has to be done about it. And that's my point - let's start a debate, let's get talking and let's start working out some real solutions.

Why use Big Brother as a stage to protest?

I want to be really clear about the fact that I embraced this experience for everything. I didn't come on Big Brother to do a protest. I'm so, so grateful and so thankful to have been given this experience and it's something that I'll remember for the rest of my life. All of the good stuff, the bad stuff, the friends I had, the laughs I had, the cries I had, it was such an overwhelming experience for me but this is reality television. If people want reality they've got to take Ryan the larrikin, and Trevor the scary guy having a laugh, Elle the emotional person questioning things in her life. They've got to take that, as well as me - the person who is passionate about these issues. I am just an average guy. I love having a laugh with my mates, watching the footy, and getting into my music, and talking about girls. I'm just an average dude but I find time in my life to care about these issues and to educate myself and discuss these things with my friends and to try and use the little power that I have to make change wisely and to use it effectively. I hope that there's people that can relate to that and who can get even a little grain of inspiration from it.

When did you decide you'd do this?

I knew very early on that if I got on Big Brother I was going to do something to really prove the passion that I have for issues such as mandatory detention of asylum seekers. I always knew I was going to make a point and use this opportunity. I think I owe that to myself and I owe that to the people who respect me and who care about me. And more importantly I owe that to the people who are suffering under these horrendous policies, to use the fact that I'm on national television in front of 1.4 million people, to use that in a way that maybe creates a little bit of change.

But honestly it was only the night before I came into lock down that I made the sign and that's maybe why my poor sewing skills are a little exposed, when the 'E' of my 'THE' fell off. But I'm going to take is as the will of the Gods the words 'Free' and 'Refugees' held strong.

How did you get the sign into the house?

It was the biggest rush getting that sign into the house. I had my t-shirt that had patches sewn on, and in between the t-shirt and the patch I had the sign. And then I just tucked it into my jeans so the bulge was under the belt, and put my shirt over it. Then when they padded me down my heart was just pounding and I was like, 'please don't feel the sign'. And then as soon as I got into the house my adrenaline was just pumping. I just put it in the bottom of my drawer and I never touched the t-shirt until eviction night. I'm so lucky.

I will just say that the fact that I knew that this was going to happen for me did affect my time in the house because it was something that made me a lot more anxious and a lot more worried and a lot more analytical about how I was being perceived and how this would be perceived. And I never for a moment thought I wasn't going to do it. But when people look back now at my time in the house maybe they'll have a little more understanding about why I got caught up in my own head the way I did.

Did it worry you when the audience booed?

When the crowd started booing it didn't phase me one bit because I know that there are people out there who are as passionate as me and more importantly I know that there's five year old kids who've never seen the outside world now because of the policies of our government. And that's inspiration enough for me to sit there with masking tape on my mouth and a sign in my hand regardless of how many people were booing.

Any regrets?

My biggest regret in doing what I did last night is I know that thousands of people came last night and spent their hard earned money and made the effort to come down and be part of a fun entertaining eviction show and hear one of the housemates have a chat about what it's like in the house. And more importantly there were a lot of young kids down there who were scared and confused and didn't know what was happening. And I'm so sorry that I caused that and I'm sorry that I imposed that on those kids. And I do feel bad for the parents who brought their kids down and felt cheated and felt like they'd been pushed into a corner and felt violated.

I don't think you can compare the pain those kids felt last night to the pain of kids who are in detention centres and have been their whole lives, so it is about perspective. And to me, what I did is justifiable.

I was actually planning on going to last night's eviction show - I'm glad I didn't waste my bucks! Has he forfeited his prizes, I wonder?

06-13-2004, 10:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
Ella Ella Bo Bella Location: Australia	Ahhh yes...bit of a shocker. I'm a BB addict and have been every year since it's been here in Oz (yes, I am a tragic individual). I'm sitting on the fence on this one. I totally support his protest for the freedom of asylum seekers, yet I don't feel that was the time or the place to air his views. Here's Merlin breaking his silence on the official BB4 site... Why is this an important issue for you? I believe very passionately that mandatory detention of asylum seekers coming to this country is just inhumane. It goes against the basic principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. You look at the fact that there's kids who have never seen anything except for the detention centre they live in - it's just sad and unjustifiable. I'm not going to sit here and say that I know the answers and that I have the solutions but I know that the current system is not one that we can sustain with a clear conscience, and something has to be done about it. And that's my point - let's start a debate, let's get talking and let's start working out some real solutions. Why use Big Brother as a stage to protest? I want to be really clear about the fact that I embraced this experience for everything. I didn't come on Big Brother to do a protest. I'm so, so grateful and so thankful to have been given this experience and it's something that I'll remember for the rest of my life. All of the good stuff, the bad stuff, the friends I had, the laughs I had, the cries I had, it was such an overwhelming experience for me but this is reality television. If people want reality they've got to take Ryan the larrikin, and Trevor the scary guy having a laugh, Elle the emotional person questioning things in her life. They've got to take that, as well as me - the person who is passionate about these issues. I am just an average guy. I love having a laugh with my mates, watching the footy, and getting into my music, and talking about girls. I'm just an average dude but I find time in my life to care about these issues and to educate myself and discuss these things with my friends and to try and use the little power that I have to make change wisely and to use it effectively. I hope that there's people that can relate to that and who can get even a little grain of inspiration from it. When did you decide you'd do this? I knew very early on that if I got on Big Brother I was going to do something to really prove the passion that I have for issues such as mandatory detention of asylum seekers. I always knew I was going to make a point and use this opportunity. I think I owe that to myself and I owe that to the people who respect me and who care about me. And more importantly I owe that to the people who are suffering under these horrendous policies, to use the fact that I'm on national television in front of 1.4 million people, to use that in a way that maybe creates a little bit of change. But honestly it was only the night before I came into lock down that I made the sign and that's maybe why my poor sewing skills are a little exposed, when the 'E' of my 'THE' fell off. But I'm going to take is as the will of the Gods the words 'Free' and 'Refugees' held strong. How did you get the sign into the house? It was the biggest rush getting that sign into the house. I had my t-shirt that had patches sewn on, and in between the t-shirt and the patch I had the sign. And then I just tucked it into my jeans so the bulge was under the belt, and put my shirt over it. Then when they padded me down my heart was just pounding and I was like, 'please don't feel the sign'. And then as soon as I got into the house my adrenaline was just pumping. I just put it in the bottom of my drawer and I never touched the t-shirt until eviction night. I'm so lucky. I will just say that the fact that I knew that this was going to happen for me did affect my time in the house because it was something that made me a lot more anxious and a lot more worried and a lot more analytical about how I was being perceived and how this would be perceived. And I never for a moment thought I wasn't going to do it. But when people look back now at my time in the house maybe they'll have a little more understanding about why I got caught up in my own head the way I did. Did it worry you when the audience booed? When the crowd started booing it didn't phase me one bit because I know that there are people out there who are as passionate as me and more importantly I know that there's five year old kids who've never seen the outside world now because of the policies of our government. And that's inspiration enough for me to sit there with masking tape on my mouth and a sign in my hand regardless of how many people were booing. Any regrets? My biggest regret in doing what I did last night is I know that thousands of people came last night and spent their hard earned money and made the effort to come down and be part of a fun entertaining eviction show and hear one of the housemates have a chat about what it's like in the house. And more importantly there were a lot of young kids down there who were scared and confused and didn't know what was happening. And I'm so sorry that I caused that and I'm sorry that I imposed that on those kids. And I do feel bad for the parents who brought their kids down and felt cheated and felt like they'd been pushed into a corner and felt violated. I don't think you can compare the pain those kids felt last night to the pain of kids who are in detention centres and have been their whole lives, so it is about perspective. And to me, what I did is justifiable. I was actually planning on going to last night's eviction show - I'm glad I didn't waste my bucks! Has he forfeited his prizes, I wonder? __________________ "Afterwards, the universe will explode for your pleasure."