Sarx

I found this in my old notes - closed. Which means, for whatever reason, I decided not to publish it originally…

S YER Host is generally opposed to the mass-market culture, you may enjoy reading the irony of such sentences as “I subscribe to Netflix” and “Todd and I have cable TV”. Personally, I think Alias is about the best drama on TV since ThirtySomething, which is cool because Ken Olin was involved with both of ‘em. M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore and Roseanne are three of the best, most thoughtful shows ever to hit the airwaves and, lest you be totally horrified, I’m leaving out the generally good, quality educational material on PBS, the History Channel, Discovery and National Geographic. Food Network Rocks and BBC Classics on DVD is almost as good as a full choral/orchestral version of “I Was Glad” at the Cathedral of St John the Divine.

The key, however, for me, at least, is to not be tortured by the TV bosses’ ideas about scheduling or advertising. One can always have thoughtful conversations about TV Morality and Ethics, but one is kind of stuck when Friends comes on right in the middle of Vespers or when the Super Bowl is filled with “wardrobe malfunctions”. So, I am a strong proponent of things like TiVo, VCRs, DVDs and down-loadable TV.

On the one hand the payoff is huge: get what you want when you want it. There is really NOTHING like an all-evening marathon of To the Manner Born, uninterrupted by PBS begging for pledges. ‘Allo ‘Allo or The Tomorrow People can easily be paused for a second serving of lasagne. (My UK readers should now be having some serious flash-backs.) One can TiVo Rome and watch the whole series over and over.

The point of this post is to ruminate. Our media often isolates us - we hear this over and over. Indeed such a concern is the entire point of the future history project called E.P.I.C.. But I’m beginning to think that such isolation is, in fact, healthy.

The “Small World” created by media is less than 100 years old. And, rather like C.S. Lewis commented after WW2, it does us no good to read of tragedies or, worse, gossip from half way around the world. The trauma caused to millions reading/ hearing/ watching of an event and getting wrapped up in it would never have happened to our grandparents or great grandparents. And while political types on both left and right may wish to pull one into that fray, it seems largely unhealthy.

The “isolation” that raises so much dread seems really the normal state of affairs.