Thursday, August 27, 2009
Why I cannot watch Season One of “Mad Men” on DVD:
By Phillip T. Alden.
August 27, 2009
By Phillip T. Alden.
August 27, 2009
My best friend and I quit smoking cigarettes, (and anything else that contains nicotine,) about six weeks ago. I can trace my “Quit Day” easily because it coincided with the release of the latest “Harry Potter” film, (July 15.)
Kevin and I have been on the 21mg patch, and tomorrow we’re “stepping down” to the 14mg patch. I truly believe it’s the best way to rid oneself of such an amazingly addictive and powerful drug. None of us are smoking the damn things for the taste. Most of us got addicted to the them when we were kids, (from advertising campaigns we later learned that were targeted at us.) Smoking was a much more tolerated back then. Some non-smokers would put out ashtrays for smoking guests.
Which brings me back to Season One of “Mad Men.” Since I don’t watch broadcast TV at all, I wait for certain highly rated shows to be released on DVD. I’ve heard the first season of “Mad Men” is brilliant. But because it’s about advertising in the 1960’s the characters smoke (and drink) constantly. Part of successfully quitting is not thinking too much about cigarettes, (and staying away from them.)
Which brings me to the real subject the above-mentioned story. It got me thinking about why I quit watching TV, why I still have no desire to watch live television, and why there has been so much incivility in our country, especially since 9/11. The roots of our “civil incivility” began long before then, but 9/11 was a turning point because that’s when we turned our national fear into national anger, with no place to put it. It’s human nature to convert fear to anger. It’s a defense mechanism.
But our mass media, particularly television and so-called “radio personalities,” have been abusing their positions to cause fear, anger and division. “Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand,” goes the song*. These people mistakenly put in such positions spread fear and hate through ignorance and a general attitude of intolerance. The circus around this health care issue is a good example, but it’s not the first by far. Certain politicians, the George W. Bush Administration in particular, encouraged and fed this ignorance, intolerance and hatred because it suited their purpose. When we looked to our President to tell us why we had been attacked on 9/11, the “evil-doers” answer wasn’t fit for a retarded third-grader.
But that’s what our mass media taught us to expect from our “leaders.” Real journalism has been replaced by angry diatribes from nasty people I wouldn’t invite into my home, but invite them in you do every time you turn on the “idiot box.” The motivations of such people can and should be carefully examined, although their actual actions and words have little, if any, value. The motivations of the people who produce this stream of ignorance and hate are the ones who should be stopped.
Because this is not “free speech,” it’s “hate speech,” badly disguised as “journalism.” When Glenn Beck (of the most offensive “Fox News,”) stated that; “Barack Obama hates White people..” he wasn’t reporting anything or giving an opinion, he was practicing hate speech. It’s the same for Rush Limbaugh when he said that he hopes the President, (and therefore the country,) “fails.” How much more un-American and uncivil can you get? You want the President and the economic recovery to “fail?” How does that further the national dialogue in any constructive way?
The sad truth is that the national dialogue has descended into extremists on different sides sniping at each other. People have become more intolerant of others. Racist remarks are spouted on syndicated radio programs and national TV all the time, as are sexist and homophobic remarks. And sadder still, instead of rejecting this ignorance and hate, the country has embraced it. Anger, intolerance and hatred have become the level of national attitude, and those of moderate voice are drowned out by the screaming of extremists.
Instead of properly investigating the crimes committed by our politicians and banking system, including subversion of our Constitution, lying to Congress in order to start another illegal war, breaking the Geneva Conventions by torturing (largely) innocent people in the misguided hope that torture actually works, (it’s been proven that it doesn’t,) and destroying our economy and causing untold suffering through greed and avarice – instead of facing these problems head-on and investigating and punishing those responsible – we turned on each other.
The criminals in Washington and New York must be rubbing their hands with glee. They’ve gotten away with crimes that normally (and historically) would have had such people facing long-term prison sentences and firing squads. A friend theorized that breaking our economy out of greed was a subversion of our Democracy and our Constitution. I agree. But these people will never face justice. We only put our poor and people of color into our brutal prison-industrial complex.
Until those who are still being poisoned by our mass media stop watching, (and stop being poisoned,) very little will change. We need to turn off the TV and the radio and start listening to those quiet, moderate voices. Until we do, those watching will keep having their mental health and their spiritual health damaged by people who really don’t care what kind of damage their words of hate are doing to people and to our country.
I don’t know what it will take to wake people up to this toxicity. Most people will not read this essay, and those who show up at town hall meetings with assault rifles won’t care about the opinions expressed in this essay. I fear some of them are too far gone. They were raised by ignorant people who fostered their bigotry and hate. They went to churches that fostered their bigotry and hate, and they watch TV (and listen to radio) that continues to foster their bigotry and hate. In short, they have been fully indoctrinated. Their minds, (such as they are,) are as shut as a bank vault.
Since I stopped watching television, friend after friend has come to me to announce they have done the same. Then they tell me how much less negativity they feel. They no longer feel bombarded by angry pundits or advertisers who literally scream at them to buy their product. One friend said he felt as if he had been released by a form of prison that was destroying his peace of mind and serenity.
And, to me, every person who breaks free from the hate speech and screaming of TV advertisers – feels like a victory for both of us.
(* “Ignorance and prejudice, and fear walk hand-in-hand,” is the final verse of the song “Witch Hunt” by Rush. Lyrics by drummer/percussionist Neil Peart.)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The End of American Civility:
By Phillip T. Alden
August 19, 2009
N.B. I should be working, but I felt this was an essay I had to write, (and post.)
I cross-posted this essay to my Live Journal web log.
I am forty-five years old and I’ve spent most of my life in the United States, (where I was born.) As time goes by I have seen my fellow Americans become not only less-civil, but openly hostile to people who don’t believe the same things they do.
We are all seeing it over this “health care” circus, but it started long before Barack Obama was elected President.
And it’s been helped along by people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and that awful woman whose name escapes me at the moment. It doesn’t help that people like Rupert Murdoch has given these people a platform upon which they can launch their hatred and intolerance.
I have heard people say things in public, and in front of TV cameras, that they would have been ashamed to say a few years ago. This is not progress, it is the opposite – regression. Our society is regressing into a state where we all act like animals. Violating pictures of the President and calling him (and others) a Nazi is an abhorrent action to any American Jew. To say such a thing is inexcusable, and the people who have made such public statements should apologize to all Jews for their insensitivity and their horrific comparisons.
But they won’t. Because these people are proud of the hate-filled rhetoric they are spouting. I guess it’s a result of George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” There’s no more room to teach civics or civility in American public schools. I recently had a young adult tell me he had no responsibility to vote or take part in his representative government.
And this isn’t happening just at town hall meetings on health care. This is happening everywhere. My friends report incivility in supermarkets, in movie theater lines, and in retail stores. Incivility is the new standard of behavior. When people say; “I’ve got my health care. Fuck you;” they don’t even realize the damage they are doing both to others and to themselves. Because all that hate and anger and racism has to come through them before it comes out of them. Just as the axe blade is dulled from chopping down the tree, these people damage themselves as they insult and damage others.
But, sadly, they will not realize this. By the time you are spouting Nazi rhetoric in public your mind is beyond understanding the effects of your words and actions. It would take serious reflection and meditation for these people to truly realize what they are doing.
It’s very sad and it makes me weep for my country. When Erik and I travel to other countries I am struck by the civility and polite behavior of people. Not everyone is acting like an asshole with no conscience or regard for their fellow man, Americans are acting like assholes with no conscience or regard for their fellow man. It’s shameful, and in the eyes of the world, it makes us look like troglodytes.
But these people don’t care how the rest of the world views them. They don’t care how civilized Americans are appalled at their words and actions. They have been conditioned to be so self-absorbed and self-interested that opposing viewpoints and civilized observations mean nothing to them. They are blinded by hate and rage that has been spoon-fed to them by people like Limbaugh and Beck. They do not even realize they have become tools of people who don’t even care about them. They are being used like a washrag and will be disposed of just as easily.
What may be truly sad is that, in their anger and their fear, they think they are helping themselves, and they aren’t. History has shown us time after time that only when you help others do you help yourself. People who believe that they can help themselves and screw everyone else are dangerously deluded, and it’s only after their twisted worldview has fallen apart that they realize their selfishness was their enemy and not their friend.
Some of them never realize it, and blame others out of bitterness for their failure as human beings.
As I’ve been watching the video clips online, I look at these people and realize that I would not befriend them, I would not date them, and I would avoid them whenever possible. I don’t think these people realize how ugly they appear when they act this way. If these people went to a job interview for a position they really wanted, and their interviewer caught their “Nazi bit” on the news, they likely wouldn’t get the job, and they’d never know that their behavior cost them that opportunity.
A long shot you think? The world is much smaller in some ways than you realize, and people see things. Your public behavior can, and will, come back to bite you on the ass.
But even if it doesn’t, these abhorrent actions damage civilized discourse, and civility in general. This lack of compassion, open hatred, and hate-based rhetoric will make this a poorer country than you can envision. It’s already happening.
I don’t expect these people engaging in uncivilized behavior to take this essay seriously, or to look at themselves and see room for improvement. But someday they will have an experience, and they will wonder how the persons involved can be so inhumane and cruel. They may even weep at the inhumanity.
And they’ll never realize they are part of the cause. Maybe that’s the saddest part of all.
By Phillip T. Alden
August 19, 2009
N.B. I should be working, but I felt this was an essay I had to write, (and post.)
I cross-posted this essay to my Live Journal web log.
I am forty-five years old and I’ve spent most of my life in the United States, (where I was born.) As time goes by I have seen my fellow Americans become not only less-civil, but openly hostile to people who don’t believe the same things they do.
We are all seeing it over this “health care” circus, but it started long before Barack Obama was elected President.
And it’s been helped along by people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and that awful woman whose name escapes me at the moment. It doesn’t help that people like Rupert Murdoch has given these people a platform upon which they can launch their hatred and intolerance.
I have heard people say things in public, and in front of TV cameras, that they would have been ashamed to say a few years ago. This is not progress, it is the opposite – regression. Our society is regressing into a state where we all act like animals. Violating pictures of the President and calling him (and others) a Nazi is an abhorrent action to any American Jew. To say such a thing is inexcusable, and the people who have made such public statements should apologize to all Jews for their insensitivity and their horrific comparisons.
But they won’t. Because these people are proud of the hate-filled rhetoric they are spouting. I guess it’s a result of George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” There’s no more room to teach civics or civility in American public schools. I recently had a young adult tell me he had no responsibility to vote or take part in his representative government.
And this isn’t happening just at town hall meetings on health care. This is happening everywhere. My friends report incivility in supermarkets, in movie theater lines, and in retail stores. Incivility is the new standard of behavior. When people say; “I’ve got my health care. Fuck you;” they don’t even realize the damage they are doing both to others and to themselves. Because all that hate and anger and racism has to come through them before it comes out of them. Just as the axe blade is dulled from chopping down the tree, these people damage themselves as they insult and damage others.
But, sadly, they will not realize this. By the time you are spouting Nazi rhetoric in public your mind is beyond understanding the effects of your words and actions. It would take serious reflection and meditation for these people to truly realize what they are doing.
It’s very sad and it makes me weep for my country. When Erik and I travel to other countries I am struck by the civility and polite behavior of people. Not everyone is acting like an asshole with no conscience or regard for their fellow man, Americans are acting like assholes with no conscience or regard for their fellow man. It’s shameful, and in the eyes of the world, it makes us look like troglodytes.
But these people don’t care how the rest of the world views them. They don’t care how civilized Americans are appalled at their words and actions. They have been conditioned to be so self-absorbed and self-interested that opposing viewpoints and civilized observations mean nothing to them. They are blinded by hate and rage that has been spoon-fed to them by people like Limbaugh and Beck. They do not even realize they have become tools of people who don’t even care about them. They are being used like a washrag and will be disposed of just as easily.
What may be truly sad is that, in their anger and their fear, they think they are helping themselves, and they aren’t. History has shown us time after time that only when you help others do you help yourself. People who believe that they can help themselves and screw everyone else are dangerously deluded, and it’s only after their twisted worldview has fallen apart that they realize their selfishness was their enemy and not their friend.
Some of them never realize it, and blame others out of bitterness for their failure as human beings.
As I’ve been watching the video clips online, I look at these people and realize that I would not befriend them, I would not date them, and I would avoid them whenever possible. I don’t think these people realize how ugly they appear when they act this way. If these people went to a job interview for a position they really wanted, and their interviewer caught their “Nazi bit” on the news, they likely wouldn’t get the job, and they’d never know that their behavior cost them that opportunity.
A long shot you think? The world is much smaller in some ways than you realize, and people see things. Your public behavior can, and will, come back to bite you on the ass.
But even if it doesn’t, these abhorrent actions damage civilized discourse, and civility in general. This lack of compassion, open hatred, and hate-based rhetoric will make this a poorer country than you can envision. It’s already happening.
I don’t expect these people engaging in uncivilized behavior to take this essay seriously, or to look at themselves and see room for improvement. But someday they will have an experience, and they will wonder how the persons involved can be so inhumane and cruel. They may even weep at the inhumanity.
And they’ll never realize they are part of the cause. Maybe that’s the saddest part of all.
