Sunday, September 13, 2009, 12:16 PM
Celebrities, In the News, Stop the Presses
By Kevin Moreau

What the hell is wrong with us?

A U.S. Congressman calls the president a liar during a live televised address, and we gossip about the incident with the same zeal usually reserved for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Pundits screech about the president “brainwashing” kids during a speech to schoolchildren, and we actually sit around debating whether they have a point.

Disingenuous politicians whip senior citizens into a frenzy with whispered warnings of “death panels” just twitching to pull the plug on Grandma. Town hall meetings and “tea parties” boil over with fear and rage.

What the hell is wrong with us?

You don’t have to be a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of this president or his policies to notice that public discourse has sunk to a new, discouraging low lately. But the polarization of our culture isn’t limited to politics. A toxic cloud of hatred, envy and churning, unfocused anger hovers over just about every corner of our daily lives.

We devour the latest “news” about the Gosselins’ tattered marriage. (“I despise her,” the ever-chivalrous Jon said of Kate last week. Stay classy, Jon.) We revel in the backbiting and name-calling of Kim, Sheree and the rest of the “Real Housewives.” We line up to buy tickets to movies in which the camera lingers lovingly over scenes of torture and dismemberment that would give Dick Cheney pause.

The term “schadenfreude”—defined by Webster’s as “glee at another’s misfortune”—has been thrown around a lot the last few years, and that’s certainly one element of the acrimonious atmosphere we so eagerly inhale these days. But there’s more to it than that.

We don’t just take some smug satisfaction in the stalled careers and tabloid travails of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse, et al. We exult in their public humiliations.

We don’t just hoot with laughter at the clueless, self-absorbed misfits on “Big Brother” or “16 and Pregnant,” secure that we’re smarter or better off than they are. We happily exploit all-too-willing people with very real problems for our amusement.

We tell ourselves we’re rooting for those fat schlubs on “The Biggest Loser” or pulling for poor Jillian to find true love on “The Bachelorette.”

But deep down, we know better.

We know that our political debate is nothing more than a dogfight, a win-at-all-costs, scorched-earth campaign that values drawing blood via a thousand tiny cuts over substantive ideas.

We know that we derive entertainment from the pain and degradation of others.

We know that we elevate our celebrities and leaders in breathless anticipation of the moment we can bring them low.

What the hell is wrong with us?

GREAT ARTICLE!!! Its about time someone said that! I wish some of our "leaders" on both sides of the of the isle would stand up and put a stop to this polarizing discourse.

Darius
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 3:24 PM