[user104658]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...George Floyd had freedoms as well ...but I guess that the power of a performance that expressed ...No, enough please...was overridden by...no, not on our watch, please...express that life taken in your own time and not on our entertainment watch...how much more can we really take of this...?...messing with BGT for goodness sake...

Originally Posted by Kizzy

They have now... and look at the meltdown, what?... Why are you trying to make me think!? It's Saturday night ffs!

I will preface this by saying I don't watch BGT. I think it's pretty much the worst brand of trash, and I actually *like* a lot of trash TV.

However, in general... I'm totally unapologetic in saying that, yes, people need headspace and escapism sometimes. It is healthy or even essential to be able to "switch off" sometimes if you don't want to end up hopping off down the depression/anxiety rabbit hole and I don't think anyone should feel bad for insisting that - as vitally important as many issues are - it's not a case at all of meaningful issues vs frivolous entertainment with the entertainment "obviously" always coming second to current social issues and politics. The balance is important, we're all bombarded with hard-hitting politics all week long and... yeah... if people want to eat some fish fingers and waffles, switch off their brains and watch dumb Saturday night telly without it too being full of political messages then I will fully defend their right to do just that.

Like I said originally I'm aware that there may well be a double standard going on, with people not being bothered about other political messages and suddenly kicking off over this, and that's another discussion BUT on the basic premise of people having the right to NOT always want to engage with politics 24/7, and in fact access to "simple escapism" being an essential aspect of good mental health.