the ultimate arbiter of human worth: (the default life - on tv) (ebook)

8/2/2019 The Ultimate Arbiter of Human Worth: (The Default Life - On TV) (eBook)

1/58


2/58

1

No medium is excessively dangerous if its users understand what

its dangers are.

- Neil Postman,Amusing Ourselves to Death


3/58

1

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.


4/58

2

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.


5/58

3

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


6/58

4

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


7/58

5

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.


8/58

6

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


9/58

7

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


10/58

8

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


11/58

9

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


12/58

10

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.


13/58

11

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.


14/58

12

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.

-

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.


15/58

13

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


16/58

14

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.


17/58

15

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-


18/58

16

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


19/58

17

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


20/58

18

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-


21/58

19

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),


22/58

20

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


23/58

21

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.


24/58

22

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,


25/58

23

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


26/58

24

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


27/58

25

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


28/58

26

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


29/58

27

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!


30/58

28

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-


31/58

29

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,


32/58

30

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


33/58

31

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


34/58

32

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.


35/58

33

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.


36/58

34

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.


37/58

35

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


38/58

36

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.


39/58

37

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.


40/58

38

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.


41/58

39

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


42/58

40

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.


43/58

41

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


44/58

42

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.


45/58

43

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.


46/58

44

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


47/58

45

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)


48/58

46

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.


49/58

47

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.


50/58

48

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


51/58

49

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.


52/58

50

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.


53/58

51

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-


54/58

52

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


55/58

53

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


56/58

54

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


57/58

55

--

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)


58/58

56

For more episodes of The Default Life, or to order the book, check

out TheDefaultLife.com

the ultimate arbiter of human worth: (the default life - on tv) (ebook)

Documents