the ultimate arbiter of human worth: (the default life - on tv) (ebook)
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No medium is excessively dangerous if its users understand what
its dangers are.
- Neil Postman,Amusing Ourselves to Death
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1. The Problem with Sesame Street
"Ernie is not dying of AIDS. Ernie is not dying of leukemia. Ernie
is a puppet."1
They say that immortality is impossible.Nobody lives for-
ever. This, evidently, is untrue. There exists a world where the
rules of death do not apply. They call it the world of television; or
rather, childrens television. Like Eden, death is barred from this
world. Ask Elmer Fudd or Wile-E-Coyote if theyve heard of it.
Relentless humiliation? Certainly. Punishing pain? You know it.
But death? Final, all-consuming, never-to-be-reversedDEATH
that lands with a thud and surrenders but a whimper doesnot
exist. Characters might be phased out and drift from memory, but
sudden departures that mimic reality are barred from the land of
1Ellen Morgenstern, spokeswoman for Children's Television Workshop in NewYork, quoted in"Surely, no one believes the rat in the soda bottle story," written by Rachel
Jones of Knight-Ridder Newspapers. (Des Moines [Iowa] Register, Dec.1, 1992,
p.3T.
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imagination. For that is what television is: the land of imagination.
And imaginary characters cant die. This is what makes them spe-
cial.
When I was four years old, I began to realize that life is
inherently disappointing. I learned that Santa Claus does not exist,
and the same went for Rudolf, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth
Fairy. What next? I thought. Is God imaginary too?
Around this time I was introduced to a new sensation in
life: unsupervised, unstructured leisure and its troublesome twin,
boredom. I began to realize that life itself is quite boring, and as
my imagination collided with reality, I lost the ability to maintain
delusions that helped me cope with reality. This was, coincidental-
ly, the same period that the primary reins of parenting began to
shift hands from the tutelage of those who conceived me to a piece
of furniture that sat comfortably in the living room corner.
If I remember correctly, my initial flirtations with this im-
agination substitution box began when I was introduced to Big
Bird and the rest of the Sesame Streetgang. We didnt actually
have a TV at home during those impressionable years, so my fa-
miliarity grew when I was abandoned at daycare on weekdays.
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Before long, Sesame Streetmade up the highlight of my daily
schedule. This was before PVRs or DVDs however, so I was
lucky to get an entire episode finished before I was relieved of my
Streetwatching duties by the lady who looked after us. Her addic-
tion to the box was more advanced than my own. She couldnt live
without her soul-poppersthat is,soap operas, heard through
the ears of a four-year-old.
On Sesame StreetI was taught in a strange and colorful
manner how to count, how to spell, and also that vampires, mon-
sters, rats, and dumpster diving cynical crackpots were cuddly and
made for nice playmates. My favorite character was Ernie. In 1990
Jim Henson, creator of the Muppet race and also the voice of Er-
nie, died. Coincidentally, this was the same year that four-year-old
Sam went to daycare. At the time, rumors emerged that this trage-
dy provided PBS an ample opportunity to explore a more solemn
theme on Sesame Street, and to provoke discussions of real world
issues such as homosexual relationships in a context even kids
could understand. These relationships, after all, looked an awful
lot like the one shared by Bert and Ernie, who slept in the same
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room, gardened together, wore each others clothes and performed
harmonized show tunes:
Rubber Duckie, you're the one,
You make bath-time lots of fun,
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you.
Ernies death could serve to introduce kids to the trouble-
some AIDS pandemic, an important issue at the time, though Im
not sure if four-year-old Sam would have made the connection.
However, the people at PBS decided against it. Immortality may
not exist in real life, but it does on TV! And so Ernie lives on,
along with the rest of those friendly misfits who really shouldve
died of old age or cancer or a drunk driving accident by now. They
never grow old, and will never die, because as much as the Sesame
Streetproducers project a pretense of education, the shows pur-
pose is no different from any other popular TV show. Its purpose
is not to help us betterour reality, but to escape our reality.
If PBS hadkilled off Ernie, that mightve pushed me over
the edge. My innocent mind could barely deal with the loss of San-
ta Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Im not sure I would have considered
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suicide if Ernie had died, but I may have surrendered to nihilistic
fatalism at a very early age. I mean, without Santa orErnie,
Whats thepoint?2 I might have stopped watching Sesame
Street, thereby unintentionally supporting the cancellation of the
show and subsequent genocide of the Muppet race. Id then have
been forced to engage with my disappointment, and used those
afternoons to do battle against boredom with real creativity, with
activities that used imagination as a tool rather than a means to es-
cape.
However, Sesame Streetisnt there to provoke real world
discussions. Thats not their M.O. They might pretend to offer a
more positive alternative toNinja Turtles and Sponge Bob by try-
ing to blend education with entertainment, but entertainment
comes first. And what can you really learn from a show that
doesnt exist in the real world? All I really learned was that educa-
tion should be entertaining and focused squarely in my direction.
This, however, didnt prepare me for the realities of elementary
2To quote the depressed robot voiced by Professor Snape in the film version of Douglas Adams
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
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school, where teachers do not sing show tunes and the puppets
arent very convincing.
As I start to think critically about shows like Sesame Street,
Ive come to notice that I didnt learn much from TV. Learning
requires patience and hard work. It comes from doing things for
yourself. It requires true imagination. However, all that Sesame
Streetrequired was mindless attention. If I learned one true thing
from Sesame Street, it was that life is much more exciting on their
side of the screen than my own.
And Ive wanted to live there ever since.
I think my intellectual development was probably more
hindered than helped by Sesame Street. It may have taught me
about the alphabet, but it didnt encourage creativity or critical
thinking skills. I must agree with former Boston University pro-
fessor of education Frank Garfunkel, who commented that,
If what people want is for their children to memorize
numbers and letters without regard to their meaning or
usewithout regard to the differences between chil-
dren, then Sesame Streetis truly responsive. To give a
child 30 seconds of one thing and then to switch it and
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give him 30 seconds of another is to nurture irrele-
vance.3
I guess thats why I have a hard time dealing with real
world issues like relationships, or credit card debt. TV shows like
Sesame Streetnurtured me with irrelevant information, and Im
not sure if the education ever stopped. After all, TV is there to
entertain us, not teach us about the real world. The notion that you
can learn while watching an endless parade of puppets singing op-
eratically about the letter F is absurd. All it really teaches is that
the real world is boring and disappointing, and instead of going
outside and doing something, we should stay inside and watch
other people do things.
TVs seduction lies in its ability to transcend this world: to
break the rules of death and despair. Perhaps, if the folks at PBS
did find the courage to off Ernie, I might have learned to deal
3 The Effects of TV Program Pacing on the Behavior of Preschool ChildrenDaniel R. Anderson, Stephen R. Levin and Elizabeth Pugzles Lorch,AV Com-
munication Review
Vol. 25, No. 2 (Summer, 1977), pp. 159-166
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with boredom, and reality, differently. Perhaps I would not have
become addicted to escapism. Perhaps I would not have come to
believe that my reality is inferior to the one depicted onscreen.
Perhaps I would have forsaken my loyalties to on-screen charac-
ters and become a well-adjusted human being.
However, Ernies task was not to teach. His task was to
rouse within me a desperation to keep watching; to spend every
possible moment in their world, rather than mine. This is what I
really learned from Sesame Street. And this is why allMuppets
should die a slow, painful deathpreferably of AIDS.
Now, This:
2. The Problem with Discovery Channel/IMAX
It is the weightlessness of consumer culture that fuels the
contemporary demand forrealexperience and creates a large mar-
ket for therapies designed to alleviate the nagging problem of
meaninglessness when reality is reduced to experiences to be
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consumed, however, it is rendered all the more unreal and unsatis-
fying.
- Craig Gay, Way of the Modern World
Journal Entry: November 4th, 2007 (Location: Nepal)
The other night was awful. As the sun surrendered itself to
the dusk, it cast a warm, glowing hue that filled the valley. The
brisk night air began to filter down the mountain, and I lay in my
cot, curled underneath as many blankets I could find: shivering;
sweating; breathing heavily. I begged sleep to overtake me. I had a
fever. I was nauseous, and weak. The oxygen (or lack of it) was
doing a number on my lungs. I knew that the nearest hospital was
at least a four-day hike away, and there were no doctors or medical
supplies in the small village we were passing through. I was nearly
as far from home as I could possibly be. There are very few places
in the civilized world more removed or remote. I waited helplessly
for my strength to find me, worrying that I might fail in my mis-
sionthat I might be left behind.
As I slept fitfully, my friends huddled together in a small
cabin, playing cards and drinking tea. I imagined the conversations
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that must have taken place. Were already behind a day, and if we
dont make it to the next town tomorrow, we might not make it in
time. We need time to adjust to the altitude. We just cant afford to
wait anymore. I knew that if I couldnt make it tomorrow, I
wouldnt make it at all.
I slept.
The next morning I woke up very early, feeling only a little
stronger than the day before. I waited for the sun to rise, contem-
plating the importance of the day ahead. I had paid fourthousand
dollars, flown from Vancouver to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to In-
dia, India to Katmandu (Nepal), and from Katmandu to Lukla.
And we were a full four days hike from Lukla. I had imagined the
feeling of walking up to Mt. Everest Base Camp, the legendary
spot that has seen and sent off only the bravest of climbers, many
of which would never return. I wanted to say, Ive been there
Ive set foot upon Everest. I wanted to feel like Id accomplished
somethingthat Id really livedthat Id really challenged my-
self, and really succeeded. The fact that I was doing this with my
brother, and a group of guys that had become like brothersguys I
didnt want to let downalso weighed heavily upon my mind.
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We set off soon after the sun had risen. I summoned the
strength to give the appearance I was ready for the five-hour trek
ahead. I wasnt. A few hours in, I collapsed. Dehydrated, exhaust-
ed, and completely helpless, I couldnt go on. It was then that I
learned what it was like to lose my independence, to lose faith in
myself. My brother and the others had to carry me on their shoul-
ders the last few kilometers to the next town. That day I learned
that as much as you plan, as much as you prepare, as much as you
commit yourself, sometimes you just cant do it by yourself. You
have to let others carry you.
The next day, I persevered like never before. I knew I
could not ask of my friends what they had given the day before. I
knew I couldnt expect them to sacrifice what precious little
strength they had to help me conserve mine. I walked, and walked,
and walked some more. And before long, my strength returned,
and so did my confidence. But it was not a confidence in myself. It
was a confidence in the people around me, and in the God who
was with me. It was confidence that they believed I could succeed,
and were willing to help me achieve my goal.
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I made it to base camp. In the process, I learned that I
could trust God. I learned that there are no guarantees in life. You
cant control everything. You may believe in your own strength,
but someday, sooner or later, we are all forced to stare despairing-
ly into the dark depths of our own weakness. You may be
accustomed to success, but you will inevitably taste defeat. Its
part of being human. That day, I learned that however far I think I
may be able to go, my strength will never be enough. I learned the
true meaning of perseverance, and also the true meaning of trust. I
now hold these lessons close to my heart. They are a part of me.
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So you went to Everest, eh? The fat dry-waller bellowed
as I cleaned up scraps behind him. Construction clean-up was the
only job Id been able to find in the slow winter months. I couldnt
help but notice a faintly sarcastic tone in his voice, like he didnt
think it was a big deal.
Uh huh. It was pretty crazy, I replied.
Yeah, well, Ive been there too, he said.
Really? I inquired. He might as well have said hed been
to the moon. His casual tone betrayed his thesis.
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Well, not really,but I saw the IMAX movie on it. Pretty
much the same thing, he said.
Whatever you say, I replied sarcastically. I dont usually
talk with dry-wallers. This occasion reinforced the stereotype that
construction workers are mediocre conversationalists, at best.
In the 80s, a media futurologist whatever that is
named George Gilder made a series of predictions about the future
of entertainment. Conceptually, he predicted Skype and YouTube
and HDTV. He writes in his 1989 bookLife After Television that
in the future,
You (will be able to) view the Super Bowl
from any point in the stadium you choose, or
soar above the basket with Michael Jordan. Visit
your family on the other side of the world with
moving pictures hardly distinguishable from re-
al-life images. Give a birthday party for
Grandma in her nursing home in Florida, bring-
ing her descendents from all over the country to
the foot of her bed in living color. Go comforta-
bly sight-seeing from your living room through
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high-resolution screens, visiting Third-World
countries without having to worry about air fares
or exchange rates fly an airplane over the Alps
or CLIMB MOUNT EVEREST4all on a pow-
erful high-resolution display.5
I found this quote in a book of essays by David Foster Wal-
lace.6 There, Wallace comments on Gilders vision, noting that
someday, We will, in short, be able to engineer our own
dreams.7
Oh, I thought. So thats what Ive been doing wrong all
these years. I thought I was supposed tofollow my dreams. Or just
take Mitch Hedbergs advice: ask em where theyre going, and
hook up with them later. I guess nowadays, youre supposed to
engineer them. Not live them, or realize them, or whatever you
did to make dreams come true in the past, but instead, watch them
happen onscreen, and pretend youre there toobecause this is
safer, and easier, and more comfortable.
4 Caps added for emphasis
5 Quoted by Wallace inA Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again.
6CalledA Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again
7 Another quote by Wallace inA Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again.
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Its already starting to happen, isnt it? The ultimate expe-
riences that life has to offer, once the stuff of lofty dreams, are
available for purchase or download. No longer are they limited by
distance or training or equipment. Thanks to expensive cameras,
climbing Everest has become easier than climbing the stairs on
your porch. All the sacrifice, hard work, perseverance and danger
implied in this endeavor, reduced from a life-long ambition to an
hour spent at the IMAX (or watching the rerun on Discovery HD).
Efficiency and entertainment make for a spectacular, if not over-
whelming, cocktail.
If you stowed away in a corner of the IMAX all day, you
could go running with lions in the Gobi, hang with some penguins
in Antarctica, hunt with some sharks in the Pacific, and even go to
the moon. Not bad for a days work. These days, nothing is be-
yond our grasp. No dream is so grand that it cant be recorded,
packaged and sold for $19.95. What took years and lifetimes for
our ancestors to accomplish, witness and experience, takes us just
a few hours.
My question is this: how does this affect our souls? By
which I mean, why ever leave your housewhy experience any-
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thing for yourselfwhen its much easier, entertaining and effi-
cient on your new sixty inch plasma? Since when did easier
become synonymous with better? Gilders predictions have all
but come trueso why try to be Michael Jordan, what with the
running and jumping and practicingwhen we can watch every
move he ever made in HD? Even MJ has his own IMAX movie
although it wasnt as good as the sharks one.
The truth is that many of us have surrendered to this atti-
tude, to this belief that life is better lived vicariously through
television. For every nerd who spends every waking hour playing
WoW, there are at least ten people who spend a couple hours a day
watchingFriends reruns orDesperate Housewives. Even those of
us that dont watch TV for six hours a day are still affected by it a
little. Wallace notices that,
As a treat, my escape from the limits of
genuine experience is neat. As a steady diet,
though, it cant help but render my own reality less
attractive, render me less fit to make the most of it,
and render me ever more dependent on the device
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that affords escape from just what my escapism
makes unpleasant.8
!
TV watching begets more TV watching, and like with pop
music or video games, our reality begins to look less exciting, less
interesting, less attractiveless everything. Television not only
defines reality within its own imperative of excitement, it goes one
further. As Neil Postman comments, the media work through un-
obtrusive but powerful implication to enforce their special
definitions of reality. Whether we are experiencing the world
through the lens of speech or the printed word or the television
camera, our media metaphors classify the world for us, sequence
it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, color it, argue a case for what the
world is like.9
So what special definition of reality is television impos-
ing? What, to invoke McLuhans dictum, is the message of this
medium? Well, weve already discovered that it wants us to think
that life can be better, or at least more efficiently, experienced
8Wallace,A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again, 75
9 Postman,Amusing Ourselves to Death, 10
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while sitting on a couch with remote in hand. But how else does it
direct how we experience our reality, how we see the world, and
how we think?
We live in a world saturated by television. We spend most
of our time in one of two places: the home, or the office. When
were at home, chances are good that we live in one of the 99 per-
cent of North American homes that has at least one television.
Chances are also good that we live in a home in which the televi-
sion is on at least a few hours a day. The average is six hours a
day, actually. And for many of us, if were not at home watching
TV, were at the office thinkingabout watching TV.
My quirky Buddhist aunt Margo recently discoveredDes-
perate Housewives. Shes just been to a month long silent retreat,
where you go to meditate and do yoga, I think. And she told me
that all the while, all she could think about was this show. She was
obsessed, and shed only seen a few episodes. She began to com-
promise with her situation by imagining how each character would
have acted in this place. Would Bree flirt with the yoga instructor
using suggestive sign language? Would Gabrielle fall awkwardly
off of her pillow and send a curse reverberating through the digni-
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fied halls? These sorts of things. TheDesperate Housewives had
invaded her mind and now commanded her attention everywhere
she went. Once youve given yourself to television, there is no es-
cape.
I have also been a victim of this. I cant tell you how many
Wednesday classes I spent daydreaming about the previous nights
Lostepisode. In fact, in college, I developed a real addiction to
television, because I could get my hands on just about any DVD
series I wanted through roommates and friends. And Ill tell you
what: I became a TV dependent. Even if it only lasted a year or
two, I was dependentuponLost, Arrested Development, The OC
and, for purely nostalgic reasons, Saved by the Bell. I even
watched a couple seasons ofGilmore Girls. Go ahead and snicker.
My life seemed much more dull in comparison, so I continued to
indulge in California-shaped escapism while my relationships, my
body, and my faith began to deteriorate.
TV began to invade my mind and change the way I
thought. I noticed this happening as my intake grew sharply during
those university years. I was starting to think differently, and act
differently. I became much more obsessed with image (more here),
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and with experiencing everything life (i.e. college) had to offer.
Apparently I wasnt alone:
Its not paranoid or hysterical to acknowledge that
television in enormous doses affects peoples val-
ues and self-perception in deep ways When
everybody we seek to identify with for six hours a
day is pretty, it naturally becomes more important
to us to be pretty, to be viewed as pretty Not only
does this cause some angst personally, but the
angst increases because, nationally, everybody else
is absorbing six-hour doses and identifying with
pretty people and valuing prettiness more, too. This
very personal anxiety about our prettiness has be-
come a national phenomenon with national
consequences.10
The anxiety that some people feel going into public, the
crushing self-consciousness of living in a culture that values ap-
pearance more than anything drives them to either A) pursue the
lifestyle of appearing rich and famous with relentless zeal, or B)
10 Wallace,A Supposedly Fun Thing, 53
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escape whenever possible. Rather than facing their fears, and
working to overcome them, they retreat back to the safety of the
familiar. They retreat to their couches, and their TVsthe devices
that simultaneously enforce the codes of a cultural ethos of image
while also offering its most popular means of escape. Here, we
can watch someone else deal with the pressures of living in a
world of insecurity and paralyzing self-doubt (the words of Seth
from The O.C., who was a victim of this world in too many ways
to count), laughing at their situation while desperately trying to
ignore our own.
I recently heard a pod-cast by a guy named Shane Hipps.
Its a talk called The Spirituality of the Cell Phone. In it, he
shows an ad by a cable company called Cox. It was advertising
the ability to watch your programs whenever and wherever you
want, like having a TiVo that connects your home TV with the
one in the car and the one on your cell phone. They call it Gener-
ation Cox. Who better to name the next generation than after a
cable TV company, I guess. Though if we are being true to form,
we should probably call them Generation Disney/Pixar.
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So on this ad theres this three year old whos watching
his favorite penguin show on TV. Hes watching it on a TV thats
built into the fridge while his mother makes breakfast. Hes
watching on the TV built into the back of the headrest in the
minivan. Hes watching it on a portable TV in his stroller while
being pushed through the mall. And then hes standing in line to
see the actualpenguin. When he gets to the front of the line, he
freaks out. He bursts into tears, and runs back to mom, who hands
him his portable TV. It might as well have been a syringe. Junior
goes back to watching the penguin on the screen. Hes just more
comfortable with detached experience than the overwhelming
challenge of conversing with a six-foot tall penguin in real life.
I cant say I blame him. Penguins are not supposed to be
bigger than you.
Juniors not alone, is he? TV doesnt help us deal with
the complexities of real life. Take relationships for example. Real
relationships require intimacy. That is, they require two people
coming to see two people as they truly are, working through their
problems and their conflicts to find resolution. Relationship re-
quires one to reflect upon ones self. It requires conversation,
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dialogue, openness, and vulnerability. It requires a lot more than
what is modeled by Ross and Rachel.
TV, on the other hand, does not require these things. It
offers a once size fits all experience of life. It is not real. It en-
courages us to see the world on its own terms, with an emphasis
on appearance and excitement and sex.
So what happens to people when theyre raised by this
peculiar piece of furniture? We end up settling for someone elses
skewed version of reality. We long to experience the whirlwind of
love without the inevitable heartache; the adrenaline rush of fear
without the panic induced by real danger; the fun of friendships
without the emotional complexities of intimacy; a sunset over
Maui without the hassles of flying coach; and life lived to the full-
est without having to go outside.
But this isnt good for us. We are meant to reach for our
dreams with courage and fortitude, because through this, we grow
into better people. This is the road to satisfaction, and to happi-
ness. Through living an adventure, such as exploring Africa or
climbing Everest, we develop a sense of self worth. We also see a
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clearer picture of the gritty realities and magnificent beauty of life,
and our place within it, than HD pixels could ever provide.
A life lived watching television, however, becomes like
captivity. Not only to its sensationalistic worldview, but to an anx-
iety-inducing sense of self. TV, as Wallace says, Manages
brilliantly to ensureeven in commercials that television gets
paid to runthat ultimately its TV, and not any specific product
or service, that will be regarded by (any average Joe) as the ulti-
mate arbiter of human worth. An oracle, to be consulted a lot.11
Weve been brainwashed to believe that the goal of life is
efficiencythat we can and should experience it all rather than
seek spiritual growth. However, to experience everythingto
Climb Everest andto do everything else without pain, without
sacrificeis really to do nothing. It is to surrender to the notion
that lifes offerings can be ably captured and displayed on screen.
But they cant. There is so much more to be learned by
doing it yourself. In truth, in trying to engineer our dreams,
weve simply found another way to forsake them.
11 Wallace,A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again, 56
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Now, this:
3. The Problem with CNN
There is this great episode ofSouth Parkwhere Butters, the
innocent Mormon kid, gets sent to Christian Anti-Gay Camp for
eight-year-olds. The camp motto is, Pray the Gay Away! A re-
mote camp in the woods filled with nothing but men and bi-
curious young boys? That's a perfect idea! says Butters father.
Butters gets sent to this camp because he inadvertently gets him-
self in an awkward situation and then admits to being confused
though he is oblivious to what being confused implies. The dia-
logue goes something like this:
Youre confused, Butters, so let us help you!
Youre right, I am confused, but your help is just making
things worse!
He gets paired up with an Accounta-billi-buddy who
tries to kill himself, as he doesnt think he can be cured, and
Butters spends the entire episode being told what to do, all the
time, before he finally figures out how to stand up for himself and
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tell everyone off.
I empathize with Butters. I too, am often confused
though not in thatway. I am confused by how many different
choices are available to me. I could try to be a lawyer, or a rock
star, or a warrior elf in WoW, and sometimes I dont feel like pick-
ing just one. Im confused because I feel that, although I could
theoretically do anything, Im always missing out on something.
Whenever I order pancakes, I wish Id ordered French toast. Per-
haps I am confused because, in some ways, I am more like a god
than any human who has ever lived, thanks to the knowledge and
power afforded by technology and television. And yet, I am not a
god. I am not even close.
TV affords something very close to omniscience. It affords
us the ability to peer into any and all the corners of the world: to
see what people look like here and there, and observe how they
live. It affords awareness unlike anything previous generations
have experienced. This is why I hate CNN.
I never watch CNN, except when I travel. This is because,
as everyone knows, CNN is the de facto channel of airports eve-
rywhere. Its the only channel that everyone can agree to watchI
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guess because it offers relevant information to travelers, such as
what the weather is like in New York, and whether or not any ter-
rorists are going to be on your plane. There is nothing in the world
that CNN does not know about, supposedly.
When I was traveling as a teenager, regardless of what was
happening in the world, Id try to change the channels on these
TVs to The Simpsons. Eventually, after growing weary of the
constant dirty looks and scoldings Id invite upon myself from
total strangers, I learned to suppress my rebellious nature. I gave in
to the calming acquiescence that fills an airports natural environ-
ment, to the totalitarian power that CNN wields in airports
everywhere.
The problem with CNN is that it works according to the
same principles that Sesame Streetdoes: it just wants you to keep
watching. Everything on CNN is sensational. There is always a
new disaster to report; a new serial killer on the loose; a new dan-
ger facing the environment; a new crisis that commands your
attention. Watching CNN for longer than twenty minutes is ex-
hausting. It is nothing if not an all-out blitzkrieg of incoherent
information, all of whichyou need to know!
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Terrorists camping in your back yard? Its possible! But
first, how your dog might be giving you cancer!
Every medium survives by convincing us that it is useful.
CNN survives because we think it useful to know every bit of in-
formation available, so that we can stay constantly up to date on
the weather, sports, politics, and current events. We think this is
important. This is what makes us modern, and civilized. But how
does this constant stream of news affect our perception of the
world?
There was a time when disaster inspired real empathy, and
TV coverage might convince us to help. These days, disasters just
arent what they used to be. If thousands die and thousands more
are at risk from a tsunami or hurricane, you may need to fudge the
numbers, because people are really only inspired to give of their
time, attention and money ifmillions of lives are at stake. Unless
you live in China or India. Then youre just plain out of luck, save
for Armageddon itself.
Shane Hipps discusses this point as well. He says,
We are connectedbut we know ofeverything,
and because theres so much of it, we cannot with-
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stand the totality of human suffering. The natural re-
action is numbness and apathy hopelessness
coldness. What can I do? It has the effect of cauteriz-
ing the nerves of compassion. Theres just too
much.12
The more disasters that command our awareness, the
less we care. Furthermore, because CNN and other media
expose us to so many points-of-view and to so many possi-
ble avenues of action, (they) make it increasingly difficult
for us to take traditional religious certainties and assump-
tions for granted.13 There is always a new opinion to be
sharedalways a new solution being formedalways new
information that has yet to be released. We are relegated to a
position of constant deferral, looking to new technologies
and new research for rescue. They have trumped the more
traditional solutions proposed by tradition, or religion. Our
desire for certainty is replaced by a flexible openness that
forsakes commitment in the hopes of avoiding irrelevance.
12Spirituality of The Cell Phone from my notes Lecture at Mars Hill Church. 2008
13 Lecture by Craig Gay,
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The stream of news that gushes forth constantly from tele-
vision has been termed Information Glut. Processing this
information is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. There is lit-
tle time to be spent processing these events through the lenses of
critical thought or discussion or genuine involvement. People have
been battered into submission: submission to incoherence, to ex-
citement/anxiety, and to illusions. Submission to the news, which
favors entertainment and distraction over real thought, whose fun-
damental assumption is not coherence but discontinuity. There,
lies have not been defined as truth nor truth as lies. All that has
happened is that the public has adjusted to incoherence and been
amused into indifference.14
This whole subject forms the underlying theme of Neil
Postmans bookAmusing Ourselves to Death. He makes the point
that The modern mind has grown indifferent to history because
history has become useless to it We Americans seem to know
everything about the last twenty-four hours but very little of the
last sixty centuries or the last sixty years.15 In the absence of the
14Postman,Amusing Ourselves to Death, 110
15 Ibid., 137
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continuity and context provided by knowledge of history, bits of
information cannot be integrated into an intelligent and consistent
whole.16 Without the wisdom of previous generations or religion,
We vault ourselves into a continuous, incoherent present17
unable and unwilling to wrench away control and steer the ship
towards saner waters. We need to come to a place where compas-
sion and wisdom may be protected from the inevitable onset of
complacency and a future where we have lost the ability to feel or
think deeply about anything.18
So maybe we should start watching more South Park, rather
than CNN. Orneither.
Now, this:
4. The Problem with MTV
When I went to college, many girls I knew were obsessed
with the showLaguna Beach and its spin offThe Hills. I offer this
as further proof that the modern world has gone mad. If youre for-
16 Ibid.
17Ibid.
18 Charles Taylor, A Secular Age
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ty, you probably wont believe the programming that MTV has
tried to pull off, fromDate My Mom! to My Super Sweet Sixteen
but this show about bratty, rich Californian high school seniors
takes the cake.
For the uninitiated,Laguna Beach is a show where teens sit
around their family pool gossiping about who went behind whos
back and did what. It is nothing if not great entertainment, accord-
ing to the ratings and the fact it had its own After Show to
analyze each episodes gruesome angst in detail.
What Im not sure of, is whether the show is real or staged.
It seems to be somewhere in between. Its dialogue is so whats
the word like, um, you know awful?... that it couldnt possi-
bly be scripted, and must be partly to blame for decreased literacy
rates across America. But I dont want simply to criticize MTV or
peoples taste in afternoon escapismI want to discuss a purely
modern phenomenon that has drastically changed the way we live:
namely, globalization and the easy access of information. It turns
out that knowing exactly what Californian teens do with their free
time does affect me, whether Im in Vancouver or Beijing or Jo-
hannesburg.
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Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrase global village
back in the sixties, referring to the increasing awareness and inter-
dependency that has grown between cultures on a global scale. Im
sure he never envisioned the degree to which this awareness would
occur. Ive heard many experts talk about how diversity is a
great thing; how cultural awareness has brought respect and cele-
bration of our differences. In fact, my Starbucks cupseriously,
the one Im drinking from right nowcalls this A great treasure,
affording us opportunities to recognize ourselves in others.19
This is total BS.
All globalization has done is make almost everyone in the
world wish they were American.20
More specifically, the Americans in Hollywood and La-
guna Beach, whose lifestyles are broadcast all around the world on
MTV, the second most popular channel for third world residents
with satellite dishes (just behind CNN, of course).21
Take the movieBoratfor example, which I had the dis-
19 Youssou NDour, Musician. Wow, that was convenient. And did I just quote a Starbuckss cup? I
am a loser.
20All the teenagers, at least.
21 From what I can tell.
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pleasure of seeing in the theatre withmy parents. Dont ask.In this
MTV produced flick (surprise, surprise) a man from Kazakhstan
endeavors to cross America in order to find C. J. fromBaywatch
(Pamela Anderson)22 so that he might make her his bride. Wait,
wheres she from? California? Right. And where did he see her?
TV. Right.
Its all really a farce put together by a rather shameless
seriously, SHAMELESSJewish comedian named Sascha Baron
Cohen, but as an idea, it isnt that farfetched. Im sure anybody
who has visited a third world nation would agreePamela Ander-
son is very popular. Ive walked the streets of Katmandu, Nepal,
where one can choose from a smorgasbord of pirated TV shows
and movies sold by kids wearing 50 Centt-shirtssuitable drapes
for the foster children of globalization.
This global awareness is actually a very recent phenome-
non. In the mid-nineties, I spent two years growing up in Zambia.
Things were different then. The boys played soccer after school,
and the girls did each others hair. Although some TV shows got
shipped in from the States, they were dated cartoons likeFat Al-
22 Which, thanks to the viewership of third world countries, is the most watched TV show ever.
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bert, and nobody watched them. Kids seemed to be happy with
what they had. Perhaps this was because they were unaware of
what they didnt have. Or namely, what people in California do
have. Unfortunately, along came a grinning, pale-as-the-moon nine
year old who ruined everything.
Yes, Ill admit it. I am to blame for introducing Americana
to a few kids in Zambia and ruining all of their lives. Have you
seen The Gods Must Be Crazy?Its an 80s movie where a coke
bottle drops out of the sky into a traditional African village. It cre-
ates havoc, because it is shiny, and no one knows what it is. They
think that its a gift from the gods, so everybody wants it for
him/herself. That was nothing.
You have to understand, however, that I was never the
most popular kid in school, and the fact that everyone in my grade
four class was Zambian and I was Canadian didnt help anything.
But the day I brought my GameBoy to school, I became more
popular than Michael Jackson. I didnt just make friendsI made
slaves. Ok, maybe not slaves. That might be a bit inappropriate.
But I did sort of become their king. Nearly every boy in my grade
sought my approval in order that they might be blessed with five
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minutes alone with my GameBoy. Others pledged allegiance in
exchange for a promise that theyd be invited over to my house to
play with my GI Joes and Nerf guns and eat hot dogs and watch
taped episodes ofSaved by the BellI might as well have had a
McDs at my house. To these boys, my place was heaven.
One day, after a few friends waved goodbye from just out-
side my green, iron gates, I discovered that something was
missing. I rummaged through my bins and drawers, flinging
clothes and batteries, to find it gone. Someone had stolen my
treasured GameBoy, which wasnt just a toy, but had become the
source of my not insubstantial earthly power. He might as well
have stolen my livelihood. Still seething, I summoned my gang for
a manhunt the like of which our school playground had never seen,
and my GameBoy was soon found stashed in the bushes some-
where, our suspect opting to choose life over mindless
entertainment until the batteries ran out. It was probably a wise
choice. During this search, however, I became suddenly aware of
the harsh reality that Id initiated. I had become the Stalin of Grade
Four.
Without me, these kids would have been perfectly happy.
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If I had just left them alone, I suppose they would have all gotten
along nicely, playing soccer23 or something, instead of subjecting
themselves to my beck and call, competing ruthlessly for my ap-
proval.
I went back to Zambia to visit not long ago. It was a differ-
ent world. It had evolved. Everyone had a cell phone. People ate at
Subway. They listened to Eminem on their fake iPods. And Im
sure, somewhere not far from me, some kid was watchingLaguna
Beach. I guess I wasnt the only one who knew the power of the
GameBoy, that shining symbol of Americas culture of endless
entertainment.
Now, I believe that your happiness level depends on your
perspective. If you have been sick, you are more able to appreciate
health. If you have gone hungry, you appreciate food all the more.
If you have slept in a field in the rain, you know the pleasure of a
roof over your head. For most people in history, these things have
provided sufficient happiness. They didnt know what they were
missing, and thus, they didnt really care. But all of a sudden eve-
ryone in the world has become aware of how goodsome people in
23 Excuse me, futbol.
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California have it, and hence, they are also aware of exactly what
they are lacking.
Zambians, Indians, and even Afghanis have come idolize
these people on MTV and covet their lifestyle. They want to look
like them. They want to talk like them. They want to be like them.
Bring me the gun ofRambo, says an African warlord in the
truth-ishly24 conceived Nicolas Cage filmLord of War. These
people begin to cultivate a strong distaste for their own communi-
ty, tradition and way of life. You can see this in first generation
Americans, kids whose parents grew up overseas. These parents
are from such totally different worlds that the only thing connect-
ing them, besides a roof, is the microwave. If the kids retain any
respect for their traditional religion and culture, its a miracle.
Most of them become consumerists through and through as soon
as they step off the boat.
First generation Americans dont carry the same values as
their parents. They dont enjoy the same activities. They dont
even speak the same language. First generation kids are more flu-
ent in English than their parents native tongue, if they can speak it
24 Truthish: a word coined by Stephen Colbert that means exactly what youd think.
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at all. These kids are cut off from their cultural heritage, their tra-
dition, and the wisdom and identity present in that tradition. Its
not long before they feel totally cut off from their family and dive
into a hyper-individualized way of life where they feel more con-
nected to TV show characters than to their own family. This, Im
sure, can be very confusing, because it is our family that provides
a moral foundation and social structure. Without a connection to
family, and the values instructed by ones parents, our lives simply
drift with the cultural tides, watchingEntertainment Tonightwhile
shopping online at Amazon.com, playing along like good little
Sims.
The world brought to you by MTV isnt completely devoid
of values, however: its values are just really shallow.Laguna
Beach and The Hills are basically symbols that glorify a hedonistic
lifestyle. Im not saying they spend all hours gorging themselves
on food and sleeping around every single night. But there are no
discussions of the existential conundrums present in the fact that
they spend enough on their cars and wardrobes to feed a small
third world country. There is nothing more to life than their next
trip to Cabo, or finding a new boyfriend, or buying a new 7-series
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BMW. There is no commitment factor, either in relationships or
beliefs. They live in a world of infinite choice, where only the new
and cool is valuable. Relationships are as disposable as things. Life
is about nothing more than having fun: and preferably more fun
than everyone else.
However, this is not a realistic, sustainable lifestyle
especially when everyone with a television is trying to imitate it.
This is the trouble with globalization: the depreciationand deg-
radationof other cultures: especially the third-world ones, whose
children just want to be American.25 They learn to crave comfort,
and become unable to deal with suffering. Suffering becomes not
something to be confronted and overcome, but something to be
ignored and avoided at all cost; an impractical, if not damaging,
worldview for someone living in the third world, where suffering
must be engaged with.
Suffering is not just an economic problem, or an emotional
condition. Suffering is a part of growth. Without suffering, we
cant develop maturity, responsibility, or the ability to really ap-
preciate what we have. Suffering is a part of the human
25 Or at least live in America.
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experience. It connects us with each other by encouraging empa-
thy. Religions and traditions usually provide a context in which to
understand, deal with and even appreciate suffering. They also
teach us and challenge us to do something about it.
Television does not. Instead, it invites us into its warm em-
brace from the oppression of everyday life, and slowly kills our
spirit, replacing our will to live with a will to drift, directionless on
a sea of entertainment, wondering whether Ross will marry Ra-
chel, or about who Kristen will take to the prom, or whether the
Permian Panthers will win their next game or (fade to black.)
Now, this:
5. The Problem with Comedy Central
My fraudulence, I was coming to understand, was in a
way the truest thing about me.
- Walter Kirn,Lost in the Meritocracy
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Its humbling to think that no matter how hard I try, I will
never affect the world as much as Matt Groening.
Sigh.
Its a true sign of our age that you can affect things more
by your imagination and a queer sense of humor than by politics or
scientific research. We are experiencing the death of the west,26
and the birth of something much more childish.
If youve grown up in North America since the late 80s,
you are probably semi-addicted to watching Americas funniest
family, The Simpsons, like me. You cant avoid them, and you
cant ignore them. Resistance is futile.27 Their trademarked brand
of satire has influenced, even infiltrated, every corner of television
for the past twenty years. They are as close to omnipresent as an
imaginary family has ever been.
They are also timeless: not only because they find ways to
maintain their place in culture through the years, but also because
they literally dont exist in time. Their world does not age. The
26To quote Pat Buchanan. Yikes, did I just quote Pat Buchanan? Stop reading. Now.
27 Wow, I swear I was possessed by the spirit of Comic Book Guy for a second there.
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Simpsons never change. You can watch an episode from 1993 and
another from 2006 and hardly notice any difference, unless theres
a guest star like Michael Jackson or Miley Cirus, which helps date
the episode via pop-culture relevance. Sorry, when were Smashing
Pumpkins popular again?28
Every episode can pick up from where the last ended. Bart
and Lisa never grow up. Homer and Marge dont grow old
unless, of course, youre talking about one of the episodes in
which the future is involved. On The Simpsons, immortality in the
ever present now is possiblea modern day dream come true. Un-
til of course, the world stops watching, and Fox cancels the show.
But that probably wont happen until the Rapture, or until we blow
ourselves up, or until the Chinese take overin which case theyll
just give the fam an Oriental makeover. They will never die, be-
cause we will never tire ofThe Simpsons. They are as much a part
of the fabric of modern life as McDonalds, or credit cards.
The show is much like Seinfeld, in that its really about
nothing. There is no overarching plot. No grand scheme. No end
goal to reach or journey to traverse. There is no point, really. Just
28 1995.
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an endless parade of amusing situations, half-hearted dialogue and
endearing characters. After twenty years, Homer is still fat, stupid
and drunk. Marge is still boring. Lisa is still socially challenged.
Bart is still an insubordinate neer-do-well destined to become a
stoner burnoutalthough, since time repeats itself like a prehistor-
ic calendar, he never does.29 Nothing ever really changes, and yet,
The Simpsons is still the longest running and most loveably formi-
dable show on television.
The Simpsons is a satire. Meaning, it aims to expose ele-
ments of our own livesusually the bits we choose not to dwell
on, like our drinking habits, hygene, or failures as parents and citi-
zensin warped hyperbole. And The Simpsonsgloriously cruel
caricature of modern life has been topping the ratings charts for
years. Why? Probably because its comforting to those of us that
never quite plumbed the depths of our potential, those of us still
languishing in lifes bush league, to watch a family infinitely more
embarrassing than ours. It resonates with Joe Briefcase30 and his
band of blue-collar underachievers because we, like Homer and
29 Again, except for the future episodes, especially the one where he saves President Lisa from Chi-
na by telling the Chinese president to chill. Hey, China still cool! You pay next month!
30 A term borrowed from David Foster Wallace
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Marge, are basically disappointed in life. We arent living the
dream. Weve settled for watching other people live our dreams
for us, onscreen.
Were stuck in middle class suburbia with a couple of kids
before we know it; working a dead end job, drinking too much,
watching too much television, growing fat and old and dumb and
bored.31 We make due with what we have, find entertainment in
what we can, and squeeze as much joy from lifes fruit as a night
at Applebeeswill permit. In watching The Simpsons, we are re-
lieved for a few moments from the concerns imposed by our own
failures and embarrassments, and can laugh at someone elses.
Sure, the satire ofThe Simpsons plumbs the depths of our
vices for material like no other, but I believe there is a deeper,
grander bit of commentary going on that has perhaps gone unno-
ticed: the elements of a good story are missing. In watching this
show, we have sacrificed engagement for amusement. The Simp-
sons live without the context of a real story. And as we spend our
evenings watching, neither are we.
31 A pig in a cage on antibiotics. (cf Radiohead)
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We arent aware of a history that informs our present and
drives us towards the future. Except for occasional insights pro-
vided by the odd snippet or flashback, we are pretty clueless as to
where we came from, and what were doing here. But we are here,
and thats all that matters. Instead of looking for that larger story,
we make like our cartoon role models and find meaning in the
dross of the everyday. That is why The Simpsons is still the iconic
symbol of low-culture pop art for the masses, and a portrait of our
identity. Without progression, its not a real story. Its like subur-
banpurgatory.32 Colorful, eccentric, irrepressible, resolute
purgatory. And the worst part is that while The Simpsons is on,
somehow, Im ok with this.
If you are somehow unfamiliar with this show, and curious,
you can find The Simpsonsplaying at least twice a day on Comedy
Central, along with its more vulgar satirical brethren,Family Guy
and South Park. Together, this triumvirate forms the hub of adult-
oriented cartoons, and have all but cornered the market on sar-
casm. Nothing is too sacred to be granted asylum from their
32 In the bland, blank, floating-in-white-space sense of the word, a la Family
Guy, rather than Dante.
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piercing satire. No religion is safe, no figure secure. Sincere belief
in anythingis open to relentless ridicule and debunked as hypocri-
sy, no matter who gets angry and quits33 or declares Jihad. The
First Amendment, it turns out, can also be very childish.
But this is perhaps the most popular mode of expression for
my generation: sarcasm. We are bred into complacency by a cul-
ture brimming with wealth, technology and information, but
deficient in wisdom. And we need to distance ourselves from our
parentssomehow. What better way than making fun of their
piecemeal religions and traditions? We dont really see why these
out-dated beliefs are important, because society seems to be truck-
ing along pretty good thanks to science, technology and
capitalism. Still, we find that life seems to be broken, somehow,
and our disappointment leads to bitterness. We grow up, and our
parents get divorced. We learn that people kill each other because
of religion. We figure out that most people we meet are trying to
take advantage of us. Cynicism is a natural reaction to disillusion-
ment, and we are nothing if not disillusioned. Hence the sarcasm.
33Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, quit over the skewering of Scientology. And the Muslims were
pretty upset when Mohammed showed up in South Parkas well.
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I sometimes wonder what impact these heavy doses of sar-
casm have upon our collective psyche. Sincere belief is dwindling
perilously close to extinction amongst a generation that shields its
vulnerabilities with indifference and irony. No oneat least, no
one in the age twenty-something varietyreally believes in any-
thing anymore, because its not cool. Its not cool to hold sincere
beliefs. As we learned in high school, its cool to ridicule, with a
vengeance. To make fun of people, religions, Wal-Mart, whatever.
Its cool to stand out from the crowd, and to be in on the joke.
Its cool to be rebellious, and not believe something just because
other people do. And its cool to also frequently referenceFamily
Guy and The Simpsons.
The integration of TV into everday life and language en-
sures that TV watching will never go out of style, never become
un-cool. For the very notion of cool takes its cues from TVs
image-drenched propaganda. To get some perspective on this, lets
turn to a favorite writer of mine: David Foster Wallace, who dis-
cusses TVs infatuation with cynicism in an essay called E
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Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction34 which is worth
quoting. At length.
You can see this tactic of heaping scorn on pre-
tentions to those old commercial virtues of authority
and sinceritythus (1) shielding the heaper of scorn
from scorn and (2) congratulating the patron of scorn
for rising above the mass of people who still fall for
outmoded pretensions. Its promulgation of cynicism
about authority works to the general advantage of tel-
evision on a number of levels. First, to the extent
that TV can ridicule old-fashioned conventions
right off the map, it can create an authority vacu-
um. And then guess what fills it. The real authority
of a world we now view as constructed and not de-
picted becomes the medium that constructs our world-
view.
If television can invite Joe Briefcase into itself
via in-gags and irony, it can ease that painful tension
between Joes need to transcend the crowd and his in-
34 Again, from WallacesA Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again.
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escapable status as audience-member. For to the ex-
tent that TV can flatter Joe about seeing through the
pretentiousness and hypocrisy of outdated values, it
can induce in him precisely the feeling of canny supe-
riority its taught him to crave, and can keep him
dependent on the cynical TV-watching that alone af-
fords this feeling. And to the extent that it can train
viewers to laugh at characters unending put-downs of
one another, to view ridicule as both the mode of so-
cial intercourse and the ultimate art-form, television
can reinforce its own queer ontology of appearance:
the most frightening prospect of the well conditioned
viewer becomes leaving oneself open to others ridi-
cule by betraying pass expressions for value,
emotion, or vulnerability. Other people become judg-
es; the crime is navet. The well-trained viewer
becomes even more allergic to people. Lonelier. Joe
B.s exhaustive TV-training in how to worry about
how he might come across, seem to watch ing
eyes, makes genuine human encounters even scarier.
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But televisual irony is the solution: further viewing
begins to seem almost like required research, lessons
in the bland, bored, too-wise expression that Joe must
learn how to wear for tomorrows excruciating ride on
the brightly lit subway, where crowds of bland, bored-
looking people have little to look at but each other.
So if I understand Mr. Wallace correctly, hes saying that
TV peddles cynicism towards religion, and work, and life, because
as long as we are dissatisfied with these thingsas long as we are
convinced they are outmoded pretensions well keep watching
TV. Of course, TV is immune from its own criticism, and thus be-
comes our only refuge from that contemptible human activity of
living.
TV is effective at propagating this view because it makes
us feel cool, like were in on the joke. Like were part of a group
that gets it. It congratulates us for getting it, for not falling for
the illusions of religion, or politics, or other authorities, by invok-
ing feelings of superiority, which make us feel good. It
commandeers our loyalty, directs our time according to its pro-
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gramming, and bends our lives to its cruel will by manipulating us
via the social tactics that were implanted in us during high school.
And in order to maintain coolness, which ever changes, we must
return again and again. We must keep watching. TV has become
the arbiter of cooland thus, has become our authority: our re-
ligion. My generation has become, largely, disciples of Comedy
Centrals nearly religious over-commitment to sarcasm, facilitated
by its cartoon priests named Bart and Stewie and Cartman: indif-
ferent and cynical towards lifes inherent beauty and meaning.
But irony is not part of this complete breakfast. A diet of
constant irreverence is not healthy. After a while,
Irony, irreverence, and rebellion come to be not
liberating but enfeebling... Its not a rhetorical mode
that wears well. As Hyde puts it, Irony has only emer-
gency use. Carried over time, it is the voice of the
trapped who have come to enjoy their cage. This is
because irony, entertaining as it is, serves an almost ex-
clusively negative function. Its critical and destructive,
a ground-clearing but ironys singularly unuseful
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when it comes to constructing anything to replace the
hypocrisies it debunks
(E)ven gifted ironists work best in sound bites...
and as for actually driving cross-country with a fitted
ironist, or sitting through a 300 page novel full of
nothing but trendy sardonic exhaustion, one ends up
feeling not only empty but somehow oppressed
irony tyrannizes us.35
This is how Ive come to feel after wasting an evening with
Comedy Central: like Ive been tyrannized by irony. Like I need a
few episodes ofThe Brady Bunch orLittle House on the Prairie
just to recalibrate my perception of reality.
A little sarcasm keeps us humble. A lot, and our penchant
for sardonic expression saps our words of meaning and our lives of
purpose. Too much sarcasm, and we become like Comic Book
Guya parody ofourselves. The very force we use to free us from
the hypocrisy of sincerity forms a cage that renders sincere be-
lief impossible and sincere expression a foreign tongue.
35 Wallace,A Supposedly Fun Thing, 67
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Isnt it ironic, dont you think?36
TV has raised a generation that cannot properly speak, or
feel. We are not in on the joke. We are the joke. We are becoming
a culture deprived of sincerity, unable to communicate except in
strange double-speak, endlessly chasing the effervescent new and
popular. Unable to truly live, because were afraid of failing,
afraid of how well appear to others in doing so.
Truly, our stories have failed us. TV, the medium of story-
telling we turn to day after day, has failed us. It doesnt offer
stories to inspire and change us: it tells us just enough to keep us
coming back for more. As screenplay expert Robert McKee says,
these stereotypical stories suffer a poverty of both content and
form.37 It is the same with our lives. Our content and forms have
diminished, leaving us bored and dissatisfied, searching for more,
for something better, but without knowing where to look, beyond
our screens.
36 Alanis Morrisette,Ironic. Sorry, I couldnt resist. BTW that song doesnt really quote any ex-
amples of dramatic irony. Rain on your wedding day isnt ironic, Alanis. Its just too bad.
37 Robert McKee, Story, 4
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--
The Art of story is in decay, and as Aristotle observed
2300 years ago, when storytelling goes bad, the result is deca-
dence a culture cannot evolve without honest, powerful
storytelling. When society repeatedly experiences glossy, hol-
lowed out, pseudo-stories, it degenerates. We need true satires and
tragedies, dramas and comedies that shine a clean light into the
dingy corners of the human psyche and society if not, as Yeats
warned, the center cannot hold.
- Robert McKee, Story
(Roll credits)
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