Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Irreverin

Home
Progressive Christian
Primetime Throwdown (yes, Brian Williams just said ‘throwdown…’)

Primetime Throwdown (yes, Brian Williams just said ‘throwdown…’)

Last updated on: October 17, 2012 at 7:37 pm by Erin Wathen

Primetime Throwdown (yes, Brian Williams just said ‘throwdown…’) 2012-10-17T19:37:53-07:00 Erin Wathen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It was a long night.

I went to sleep at a decent hour, then woke up at a distinctly INdecent hour, and lay awake until right around the time my kids started stirring. Isn’t that always the way…

Normally, I’d attribute my nocturnal twitchiness to some ill-advised afternoon coffee, or a pressing deadline. But no. I woke up in the middle of the night, rehashing the presidential debate; and in my sleep-deprived mind, it sounded something like this: ‘did not.’ ‘did too.’ ‘nuh-uh.’ ‘yes-huh.’ ‘he started it.’ ‘that’s what she said.’ ‘so’s your mom.’ ‘so’s your face.’

I lay awake, mentally writing blog responses. I lay awake, composing SNL skits about binders full of women. I lay awake, dreading the outcome and aftermath of the election. I lay awake, dreaming up apocalyptic futures in which my children don’t know the meaning of ‘civil discourse.’ That, and they have to hike 20 miles to find clean water. (Hey, i live in the desert. This is where my mind goes at 3am).

Americans are addicted to many things–two of the most distinctive being 1)round the clock entertainment and 2) being right. Combine these two fatal flaws, and what we’ve created for ourselves is a political culture that is anything but just and balanced. On the contrary, it has gotten downright toxic. Families are fractured. Churches are splitting. Communties are coming apart at the seams. Road rage incidents escalate because, you know, a stranger’s bumper sticker is enough to make you want to run them off the *%##@!&@^ road.

It is a spiritual sickness. The quickness to judge someone as stupid, hateful, sinful or sub-human, based on their political leanings; the ways that we value the packaged rhetoric of a party or a candidate over the real and actual people right in front of us; the certainty of right-ness, in spite of all the good and decent people we know and love who live on the other side of the aisle.

And while we all say we are sick of it–while we all have campaign fatigue, and just want to see SOMEbody do SOMEthing to secure our future– we continue to feed the beast. We just can’t help it. We continue to be swayed by campaign ads that insult our intelligence and even our humanness. We continue to make snap judgements about strangers based on their bumper stickers. We continue to leave our churches, to fight with our families, to go on facebook and tumblr rants that alienate half of our contacts list. We continue to lie awake at night. And in the midst of everything, we continue to watch debates that look less like progressive civilization and more like…what… UFC meets the Hunger Games? Lord of the Flies vs. Survivor Reunion? Jersey Shore goes to visit the Clampets? Or maybe something more sinister. Maybe Honey BooBoo goes to Jesus Camp. [spoiler–scariest movie ITHOTW. perfect for Halloween]

Whatever reality series, game show, or sitcom you liken it to, one thing is clear: This is primetime. It is manufactured. It is produced and promoted. And you better believe, it is a top dollar ad spot. My brother is in a touring Broadway show, and they have had to stop all American appearances until after the election. Why are they spending the next 6 weeks in Canada? Because they can’t afford stateside advertising. True story. All the political banter has driven ad dollars to Super Bowl proportions, and regular folks–with regular businesses, services, and yes, actual entertainment venues–cannot compete. And it wouldn’t matter if they did. We are all glued to the trainwreck of an election year.

I’m not saying that politicians should not have to pay for ad space. I’m just pointing out that we are all so riveted to the drama, we cease to notice that it’s just that–drama. We also fail to notice that, in a year when economy is everything, candidates are spending enough campaign dollars to roughly pay down the deficit. Just sayin.

It is all a product, a show, a story…and one that is in large part fictitious. We’ve come to accept that politicians lie. We have scores of ‘fact checkers’ waiting in the wings to process for us how much of the show was based in reality, and how much was written for our amusement. And the thing is–once the lies have been revealed, we don’t even care. It’s just politics, we say. They all lie, we say. It’s edited for TV, we say. They have to make it entertaining. And we go on like it’s just fine.

Thing is..it is NOT fine. It is not ok that the leaders of the free world lie to us, in chronic fashion, and we’ve just accepted it as the way of things. It is not ok that we don’t know who to trust, who to believe… And it is certainly not ok that, for all politicians are known to mislead us, we continue to rally behind them and support them at the expense of our real relationships, our real lives, and our spiritual well-being.

It is created for us. And as long as we’re buying, they’re selling. As long as we buy the anxiety, they will sell the anxiety. As long as we buy the fear of other, they will keep producing it. (“You’re black.” “Yeah, well, you’re a mormon.” “You kill unborn babies.” “You hate women.” “So’s your mom.” “So’s your face…”) I’m not sure how to change the dynamic, other than to move with some awareness that, when it comes to politics, we get what we pay for. And what we see on the big screen is merely a reflection of how we engage each other in real life. If we want to change one, we’ve got to change the other. Otherwise, we are just begging to be lied to.

Meanwhile, as long as we look to the political arena as a source of entertainment, then entertainment is exactly what we’ll get. It will be a great show. There will be popcorn, and billion dollar commercials. There will be name-calling and mud-slinging. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It will be entertaining as $*^!, and we’ll all walk away feeling good about ourselves, high on being so right about everything. But will we sleep at night? Don’t count on it.

progressive christianity

romney binders

spirituality

Previous Post

October 16, 2012

Like a Child

Next Post

October 19, 2012 One More Piece of the Puzzle

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category a good week for progress Advent and Christmas Being a Person desert life faith and community Good News for Progressives Lent and Easter Marriage and Family S*^! Jesus Says sabbatical road tripping Spirituality in Culture Talking to Strangers the "Best Stuff I Ever Ate" diet travel Uncategorized writing Writing Prompt Wednesday

Select a Month January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 February 2011 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city did the wise men visit to see King Herod before finding Jesus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jerusalem Hebron Nazareth Bethlehem