Generation dodo

(Madrid, Spain)

Last night the Spanish television channel laSexta 2.0 premiered its latest reality show, “Generación Ni-Ni”, with a huge fanfare. The title of the programme refers to the section of Spanish society that “ni trabaja ni estudia”, doesn’t work and doesn’t study; using the same technique of abbreviation in English it could be called “Generation dodo”.

The premise of the programme is that eight adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two (the press release specified the potential age range as “16-25”) live together in a spacious house surrounded by cameras. They are observed by their parents and two psychologists – and, one imagines, by a few million Spanish people – as they are obliged to go out and work for their keep. According to the specific information published on laSexta’s website:

“eight youths...are going to undergo a process of re-education. The Generation dodo psychologists will try to change the behaviour and values of these youths”

The first thing which stands out is the age group being targeted by the programme – middle-aged television producers seem determined to aim their disdain at “the youth of today”, even though there are plenty of middle-aged people who neither work for a living nor fill their time with useful study. Those people would tell you that the situation is bad in Spain at the moment – but it is no better for young people, in fact it tends to be much worse as they have yet to be given a chance at anything in life apart from following incomprehensible rules.

What many people seem unable to understand is that people leaving school look at their parents’ generation and see very little incentive to follow the only path which is laid in front of them by authorities with little imagination or empathy. Quite apart from the wholly natural desire to rebel against the previous generation, during a recession there is even less proof that conforming will provide school-leavers with any future security. The press release from laSexta describes the participants in the programme as “apathetic” – in the face of today’s reality, why should they be anything else?

In reality Generation dodo highlights the fact that the values of our parents become extinct as soon as their children form opinions and that the current system long ago lost the power of flight. What is also clear, however, is that when it comes to finding ways to brain-wash young people into conforming, middle-aged people and television form a dangerous cocktail indeed.