For decades the witty H.L. Mencken had a good time bemoaning the tase of Americans, decrying the booboisie. the philistines, the "swinish multitudes," but also insisting that "The United States…is incomparably the greatest show on earth."
In his book Life the Movie, a decade ago, the critic/writer Neal Gabler took this idea a step further, arguing that in this country, life has been overtaken by entertainment values, such that Americans see their own lives as an inferior form of the real thing. As Gabler puts it:
It is not any ism but entertainment that is arguably the most pervasive, powerful and ineluctable force of our time — a force so overwhelming that it has finally metastasized into life.
If the overwhelming popularity of reality shows weren't proof enough for this alarming thesis, here today comes objective fact.
The newspaper USA Today, according to its own staffing records, now has more reporters and editors covering entertainment (27) than reporters and editors covering science, the White House, the federal government, and Congress — put together (23).
Gabler goes on to argue that entertainment has led us to think that our own lives are second-rate versions of what they would be with better entertainment values. Think how charming we might be if cleverly rewritten; how handsome we would be if played by George Clooney!
No wonder the planet is ignored. Its changes come too slowly. Climate change isn't disastrous enough — needs better production values!
But leave it up to The Onion to put the same thought more entertainingly:
WASHINGTON—According to a report released this week by the Center for Global Development, climate change, the popular mid-2000s issue that raised awareness of the fact that the earth's continuous rise in temperature will have catastrophic ecological effects, has apparently not been resolved, and may still be a problem.
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Thus far, the study has gained unanimous favor in the scientific community, which was admittedly surprised in 2008 and 2009 at how quickly a defining issue that will undoubtedly affect everyone on the planet became so heavily politicized and took a backseat to health care reform, the housing bubble, and replacing Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.
Perhaps the Ignorital pills to be marketed in the far, far future will help.
Kit Stolz 