A WORD OF CAUTION. I am well aware that the job of an op- ed columnist is to be a moral leader and provide solutions to problems plaguing society. And I take that responsibility very seriously. But reader, I have to warn you that you might want to skip this one. I’m afraid it contains little in the way of inspiration. By all means, keep it out of the hands of the young ones.
I have a confession: I’ve been watching a lot of “Two and a Half Men” and “Weeds” o n TV. “Two and a Half” re- runs pretty much nonstop on at least one channel. I’ve obsessively indulged in several episodes a week of “Weeds” for months now and am seeking counselling on how to carry on once I’ve caught up on all seven seasons.
Nobody’s forcing me to watch this stuff. Nobody’s got a gun to my head . The fact is, I find it irresistibly entertaining. Especially “Weeds,” a work of considerable comic genius expended—or squandered, depending on your point of view– on this simultaneous putdown and indulgence of West Coast culture. I’m besotted with Mary-Louise Parker.
I’m clearly the target audience of these shows.
It’s not all that I like on TV, but what does it mean that I do like it? What am I becoming? What are we becoming? (I know I’m not alone in this; there’s my wife, for instance, a much better person than I am, and several million other fellow Americans.)
Are we –gasp!–decadent? “Decadent,” that old Monday morning quarterbacking putdown of fallen dynasties and empires.
Judging from our viewing habits, what you can deduce about our national character? The word “silly” comes to mind. Seems like we’ve gone in a few decades from Greatest to Silliest Generation.
We should have seen it coming. It was 20 years ago that “Seinfeld” changed everything with the brilliant and hilarious idea of basing a sitcom on nothing. Nothing happening to admittedly silly, middle-class characters totally comfortable with their inconsequentiality. (“We’re not real men; no way.” “No, we’re not.”) We loved it. Ten years after its long run, it’s in constant re-runs. I myself have seen every episode a half dozen times.
In stark contrast to the silliness, there are serious voices. The earnest entreaties of the Cape’s own Ralph Nader, Peter White, candidate for U.S. Senate and perennial goad to our conscience. The sober warnings from climate change scientists. The constant stream of MoveOn emails, each one ending by thanking me “for all I do,” by which I don’t think they mean my TV watching habits.
In France a best -selling book by a nonogenarian WW2 Resistance hero is titled “Indignez-vous,“ roughly :”get pissed. [ALT: get outraged. ] As the title suggests, the message is basically “You younger generations have your own version of nazis to get riled about if you’d just take your eyes off that giant flat screen TV and look around.”
Voices crying in the wilderness.
Maybe some people will suggest that what I’m calling silly is just what success looks like. Serious and heroic was the style for when we were still in the process of becoming the greatest nation in history. But guess what, we’ve arrived. We’ve pursued happiness and damned if we haven’t caught it. Charlie Sheen is the new American hero.
Nice idea except for obvious evidence to the contrary: Like today’s news that while unemployment has started to rise again, corporate profits are through the roof. (Apparently companies have discovered that the more people you lay off, the more money you make. It’s called streamlining.) Like the current tragedy of nearly all of us haplessly witnessing the two parties debating over just how to screw us and placate the wealthy few.
Government’s got to be a little afraid of the will of the people its only job is to serve.
A nation of Charlie Sheens—actually, Charlie’s brother on the show is more like it– is too pathetic for our own government to take seriously. If we have less and less respect for those in Washington, the feeling is mutual.
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