FAHRENHEIT 451 AND REALITY TV

** WARNING – THIS POST IS WAY LONGER THAN MY USUAL ONES. IF YOU HAVE  A SHORT ATTENTION SPAN – YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS ONE. **

I was chatting with some folks recently about television fare. As usual, I have not seen most of the shows that were mentioned. If it’s not on PBS, I probably haven’t seen it. I gave up on commercial television when CNN went to the provision of entertainment rather than news and scripted drama fell to the economics of cheaply produced reality TV. I mean…who are the Kardashians and why are they famous?! Honey Boo-Boo?! My Big Fat Gypsy Anything?! Intelligent people really watch this stuff? The reality TV phenomenon was something I just didn’t understand…. until recently.

During the election cycle I had to stop watching TV altogether, even my beloved PBS let me down. I had been meaning to reread some Ray Bradbury ever since the announcements of his death came out in 2012. So, it seemed as good a time as any to pick up some literature. I decided to reread Fahrenheit 451. I had forgotten how fabulous that book is. For those of you who don’t know the book, go get it and read it, not online but in its paper format so that you can be subversive as Bradbury intended.

The quick and dirty on the book is that it takes place in a future where  firemen burn books because people are not supposed to read but rather obtain whatever they need to know from mass programming. A young fireman does the unimaginable and steals a book that is supposed to be burned, squirrels it away and reads it at a later point, having no idea that once he reads the words they will be seared into his brain as if burned there by a hot branding iron. He starts to question what his life is about. His seasoned veteran supervisor sensing a crisis of confidence is developing pays a surprise visit to the young man’s home. The supervisor reveals that indeed, firemen used to put out fires, not start them, and he explains why that changed.

And here is where Fahrenheit 451 is relevant to reality TV. Thanks to those of you who stayed with me to get here!  The old fireman explains that governing the masses is easier when people don’t trouble themselves with thinking; when they don’t ask questions or try to understand the whys of things. So the government produces programming that tells the masses what to think and who to care about. The government allows the people to believe they can interact with the programming and impact its course. But in truth, their “choices” are designed so that they never impact any outcome. As a result of the programming, the people came to believe that they actually knew the characters in the programming and valued them over their relationships to their real family and friends. They became numb to the realities of life and the people did what the government wanted.

I had to reread that section of the book a couple of times. But you know what? It explained reality TV perfectly. The Kardashians are famous because some one told you they are, not because they did anything of significance to become famous. And people interact with them via TV, follow details about their lives posted on blogs, as if they had a real relationship with the Kardashians. So the name of some baby born through an adulterous relationship is more important than how many small businesses are suffering as a result of the sequestration. Bradbury apparently was clairvoyant because his novel was written in the 50’s in response to McCarthyism, yet he very clearly saw what could come to pass in our present era.

I won’t tell you what happens to our young fireman.. His supervisor offers him a choice: he may hold on to the book a little longer and then come to the firehouse and burn it publicly or he may refuse to burn it and  become an enemy of the state. You can see that no matter his choice, life as he knew it is over.

I’m already thinking about safe hiding places for my book collection. What choice would you make?

…just something I was thinking about …

BLACK BAPTIST HYPOCRISY ON GAY MARRIAGE

Legislatures throughout the country are debating whether to approve bills recognizing same sex marriages. I haven’t found it necessary to comment on the subject. I find its one of those sensitive subjects that good people can disagree over. Nonetheless, there is an aspect of the debate that I do find disturbing. In the Maryland/Washington area, the black Baptist churches have come out full force against any legislation which supports gay people’s right to marry. A number of prominent Baptist preachers have come out publicly against the bills. And the language the preachers are using is vitriolic and feels hateful to me. I find the vehemence of their opposition a little hypocritical. I was not raised in the Baptist church but, I have lived in black neighborhoods all of my life and have been to enough Black History programs and Martin Luther King Programs in black Baptist churches to know that many of the choir members and directors of these churches are gay. Their churches are full of gay worshipers. I can only image how horrible it must be for any of their followers who are closeted to be surrounded by people who claim to hate what they are. How horrible must it be to go to your place of sanctuary, the place where you go to be closest to your supreme being, only to find hate has filled its rafters.

Faith is individual and personal. One should not try to force anyone to do anything that violates the principles of that person’s faith. But, there is a huge difference between respecting the principles of a group’s faith and allowing them to force their principles on others who do not follow the same beliefs. And it seems to me that is exactly what the Baptists are trying to do. If they believe gay marriage violates their religious principles, then they should ask their congregations not to engage in gay relationships. But there is no reason why  a Baptist minster/preacher or any other religious figure should be able to dictate what the civil law is or can be in a state. That is the meaning of separation of church and state at its core.

… just something I was thinking about…

LOOKING BACK OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS

The tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 passed yesterday. It is hard to believe that ten years has passed. I’m sure the families of those tragically killed feel the loss of their loved ones as acutely today as they did then. And yet, life goes on. That is the real pain of those who survive. They do go on, whether they want to or not.

Are we better off today then back on that fateful day? Probably not. Thousands of young men and women are still dying trying to get accountability on the two war fronts, and many more hundreds of thousands wounded. Now, Congress and the American public have lost the stomach for a conflict they embraced so readily ten years ago. So, I guess we are done with evening the score and getting revenge for that horrible act. And yet, credible threats are still uncovered and weapons (including guns and knives) still  manage to get through TSA security at the airport.  We have tortured and killed detainees and prisoners and thousands of Americans have been illegally profiled in the interim.

The events of Oklahoma City have faded in the collective memory of the American public, which I am sure frustrates their community to no end. Will 9/11 fade one day from the collective memory? We don’t know the answer to that yet. The real question for me is whether our democracy and the freedoms it is supposed to protect will recover from our efforts to get revenge and to convince ourselves that we have obtained security from terrorism, a goal which can never actually be achieved.

… just something I was thinking about …

GIVE US FREE!

Even though its been a bit since I’ve posted…yeah it’s way too late to wish anyone a Happy New Year…sigh.

But here we are in 2011 and its just February, but already the people in two nations have grown too tired of the yoke of oppression and forced their leaders out of office. Congratulations to both the Tunisian people and the long suffering people in Egypt. Hope no one misses the fact that both of these countries were among our staunch allies. The human rights community has pressed the U.S. for years to be more forceful in advocating for the protection of human rights for the citizens of our allies. For political reasons it is just never convenient for the U.S. to do so. Even in light of the monumental occurrences in Egypt, it took U.S. officials a little while to reach consensus on what our country’s position would be. I also found it fascinating that Saudia Arabia, Israel, and Jordan pushed the U.S. to help slow the momentum of the Egyptian’s peoples push for freedom. Just goes to show, politicians really are cut from similar cloth no matter what their public speech is.

Fortunately, the Egyptian people were too weary to worry about staid politics. The young people want a future. Others want a government who will listen to their voices and they were all tired of a government that lived in luxury while the average Egyptian struggles just to survive. And so the people brought the strong man Mubarak down. Let that be a lesson for all the strongmen left. You can hold power now, but eventually the people will reach their breaking point and demand change. Are you listening Mugabe? Gbagbo? and all the others still left… we are living in interesting times.

…just something I was thinking about…