I had a bit of a debate yesterday with a friend who is the second person I’ve come across (after Meaders) who thinks that George Galloway taking part in Celebrity Big Brother is actually (snigger) a good idea. My friend was convinced that George Galloway’s appearance on Big Brother was a masterstroke, designed to get apathetic people interested in politics. George Galloway to the rescue!

Er, no. You hear this sort of shit all the time. People, for some reason, always want to compare Westminster with Big Brother as if Big Brother is something that politics should aspire to. They say that more people vote in Big Brother than vote at a general election — though this ignores the fact that Channel 4 viewers are actively encouraged to vote multiple times, because that is how Channel 4 make their money from the programme. There could be only a few thousand people voting on Big Brother for all we know.

Apparently George Galloway’s appearance on Big Brother will get the Great Unwashed (who apparently all watch Big Brother) interested in politics. This is despite the fact that Galloway would never be allowed to use Big Brother as a political platform because Channel 4 have an obligation to remain politically balanced — a bit difficult to do in the Big Brother house. Galloway would have known this before he entered the house, so he couldn’t possibly have gone in to “spread the word”. It should be screamingly clear to everyone that Galloway is doing this for ego purposes alone.

Besides, the idea that an appearance on Big Brother is all it takes to halt apathy is really patronising. It is exactly the same as suggesting that because Dennis Rodman is on Big Brother all of a sudden everybody will find themselves interested in basketball. It’s plainly nonsense. People aren’t stupid. If they aren’t interested in politics, they aren’t interested in politics. Some suntanned, moustachioed ranting nutcase — who seems to genuinely believe that “almost every Muslim in the world” has heard of him — talking about opened orifices on a here-today-gone-tomorrow reality television show isn’t going to get anyone interested in politics.

It is exactly the same as anything in life. Some people are into football and others aren’t — that doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong, or that football needs to reach out to more people. I think the idea that everybody should be interested in politics is a really pious position to take. I think the only reason most of us are into politics is because some authority figure told us to be, or because it’s supposed to make you more intellectual or something.

I think that the people who don’t fuss themselves with politics — the ones who apparently all watch Big Brother — are the real clever ones. They know that the chance that their vote will be pivotal in the general election is so close to zero that they might as well not bother. The same goes for even voicing an opinion — there are so many people with opinions, so why should my own one make a difference? Any difference it makes will be so tiny that I might as well not have bothered. Those of us who are busy debating about politics are the real suckers.