I Don't Get It

What’s so entertaining about so-called “reality shows”?  Why are they so pervasive on TV?  And the talk shows that deal with the worst that is in us (“I am the secret lover of my daughter’s boyfriend!”).   Or those shows in which we watch people get pummeled, pulverized and humiliated as they run a sadistic obstacle course ---Who’s watching this stuff?

Apparently someone is watching or else it wouldn’t be on.  Movies, shows, and entertainment seem to be exploring the gutter these days to see how far into the cesspool we are willing to sink.  Miley Cyrus’ self-degrading exhibition on the Video Music Awards with fellow bottom feeder Robin Thicke is only the most recent demonstration of our culture’s fascination with the lowest common denominator.  I once rationalized that we like to watch such trash because it might make us feel better about ourselves.  By comparison we might say, “Gee, I guess my life is not so bad.”  But I don’t understand why we seem to need such a steady, daily dose.  I guess I’m wondering what’s missing from our lives that we would seek to fill the void with such poverty of imagination.

I do not want to trash Miley Cyrus.  I suspect she is the latest emotional casualty of the Hollywood machine that created her.  There are others before her --- Macaulay Culkin, Brittany Spears, and Lindsay Lohan are precursors.  Each of these is a person in whom there exists the image of God, a soul in whom God delights.  So, why have they “exchanged the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25).”  In this context, the lie they have bought into is that they must find their self-worth in their popularity (which is never quite enough to satisfy the ego), instead of the truth that they are already of infinite value regardless of public adulation. 

What about those of us who watch this stuff?  Does it really make us feel better?  Does it really entertain us to watch the degradation of another, to watch humans behaving badly?  Am I a naïve to wish for programs that might evoke the best that is in us?  Instead, programs seem to push the envelope ever further to see what level of prurience we can tolerate. 

I do not call for a return to “Leave It to Beaver,” all innocence with no intersection with the reality of our lives.  But it is possible to tell stories that combine humor while looking at prejudice (“All in the Family”), evil confronted by integrity (“Foyle’s War”), or . . . why don’t you cut your cable, save some money, and get you a good book at your public library.  I hear Mark Twain tells some pretty good stories.

I guess I’ll end this by asking the WWJD question in another way --- “What would Jesus watch?”  To tell you the truth, my mind is blank.  I can’t picture Jesus sitting around eating popcorn and watching “Modern Family,” although I suspect he would find a Duke-Carolina basketball game highly entertaining.  I imagine Jesus would be spending more of his time in connecting with people directly rather than through some medium like TV, computers or smartphones.  Something to think about...    

Why Do We Care about Charlie Sheen?

A friend came back from New Zealand recently, sobered by the proximity of the earthquake that shook Christchurch only a few days after visiting there. Even more disconcerting was the fact that upon returning to the U.S., the news of the earthquake and its aftermath had been relegated to the fringes of journalistic reporting, overshadowed by the ravings of actor Charlie Sheen.

We now surmise, based on a parade of experts, that Charlie Sheen is not simply another self-absorbed Hollywood star, but must be suffering from some kind of mental illness characterized by manic episodes. The greater question for me is, “Why do we care about Charlie Sheen?

Maybe we have become inured to the news of earthquakes and human suffering. As we see devastation in Haiti or New Zealand, and we hear about hundreds of deaths, we eventually become numb to the particularities of such events. Maybe we lose interest because it doesn’t feel personal.

But Charlie Sheen – there is a face we recognize. This feels personal. Outlandish. Maybe crazy. But personal. And Charlie is famous and rich. Do we secretly enjoy when the stars fall from the sky? “How the mighty have fallen . . . (2 Samuel 1:27).” Perhaps we are making comparisons – “I’m not rich or famous, but at least I’m not crazy!” And in some sad way, Charlie Sheen’s problems make us feel better about ourselves.

I don’t know. I suppose I should care about Charlie Sheen but I don’t. Oh, in some sort of vague way, I want him to be well and I offer this as a prayer, but I am much more concerned with the mental health of people I know to spend too much time thinking about Mr. Sheen, whom I don’t know. Charlie is a part of the cult of personality with which our culture is obsessed, but I would argue that the cult of personality is not the same thing as being personal. We may know his face, but that is a far cry from knowing him personally.

One of my favorite lines from a song is from the eccentric quasi-zydeco band, Donna the Buffalo, “What does all this Hollywood really have to do with us?” For me it is another way of saying, “C’mon people, get a life!”

Where am I going with all this? Well, I’m not sure we can do a whole lot for Charlie Sheen or for the people of New Zealand, but for all the time we spend watching the news about people we’ll never know, we could surely address the needs of people closer by that we do know. I have a friend who, with his wife, decided to get rid of their TV about two years ago. He says they’ve never been happier in their marriage as a result. They have found time to do things together and to care for one another more deeply. Now, that sounds promising.

Paying attention to people we actually know can spill over from our marriage to our family – perhaps spending more time actually playing with our children rather than plugging them into another DVD filled with talking vegetables and dinosaurs. Perhaps with the extra time, we might visit a lonely elderly member of our neighborhood, or tutor a child in the local school. We might even have enough energy (TV makes us lethargic) to hammer nails in a Habitat House or prepare meals at a soup kitchen. After a while we might even forget who Charlie Sheen is, and well, maybe if he didn’t get so much media attention, he might actually have a chance to get better – reclaim a normal life – maybe.

I’ve often pondered the fact that Jesus never wandered beyond the borders of Judah and Galilee (except for a brief sojourn in Egypt as a baby). He didn’t go to Rome. He was rooted in his locale – Nazareth, Galilee, Jerusalem. Did he get news from the greater world? Did he wonder about the lives of the rich and famous in the Mediterranean world? Who knows? We do know he was infinitely interested in each individual he met. He was personal, and seldom distracted by the cult of personality in his own day.

His few references to a famous people seemed to diminish their significance (“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, but to God the things that are God’s,” or, regarding King Herod, called him a “fox”). But the people he encountered during his ministry were anything but diminished – the prostitute, the beggar, the blind, the lame, the demon-possessed, the tax collectors, even the Pharisees, I believe, he approached with deep concern for their well-being – body and soul.

If I ruled the world I would unplug most of our electronics and encourage people to spend more time with each other. We could still read the news about the wider world in the Sunday paper, but the most important news would be picked up at the general store, local coffee shop, styling salon, or in Sunday School class. That would be the news about the people we know close by, the people God has given us to love, person-to-person. And I believe someone close by to Charlie Sheen might give him the attention he needs, minus all the cameras in his face. I think that’s the way Jesus would do it.