" The Reality Show That Never Ends "
Rev. Peter E. Bauer
The law and order guy was on the other night. He talked about how violence was up, killings were high and that there was a need to restore " law and order. " The whole tone of the presentation was almost apocalyptic, "watch out or the world as we know it will be over in five minutes" The guy then added "Oh, by the way, I understand all of this and I'm the only one who can fix it."
Really ? Whatever happened to the admonition of being wary of messiahs. This messiah to be is not in the form of an itinerant preacher, rather one who wears expensive suits and strikes a silhouette pose ala Alfred Hitchcock.
The movie The Truman Show cleverly chronicled the life of Truman Burbank, a character portrayed by Jim Carrey who believed that his entire thirty year life was being broadcast on television. 15 Truths About 'The Truman Show' | Mental Flossmentalfloss.com/article/64649/15-truths-about-truman-show
Somehow, watching the events of this campaign season reminds me of the Truman Show. A candidate spins a narrative and promotes a campaign where countless things are said, constant disparaging remarks about individuals and whole classes of people are made and yet incredulously there is little to no substance behind any of the rhetoric.
In the movie Schindler's List, the protagonist character Oscar Schindler is heard to say:
"I don't do the work. I do the presentation."
But unlike Oscar Schindler who really saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish people who would have met their death in concentration camps without his intervention; the law and order guy doesn't appear to be doing much work at all; he is, however, very big on the presentation.
Reality television works because it sells a fantasy. Viewers watch these shows in order to get a voyeuristic bird's eye view of the trials and travails and vicissitudes of people's lives, especially the lives of celebrities.
What is unique about this current political season is that it resembles a reality show that never ends. The carnival barker is here displaying his promotional wares and programs for sale. There is a lot of bravado, but there isn't much of anything else. When the carnival barker gets mad, he then threatens.
Whenever times of economic and political uncertainty emerge, there is usually the accompaniment of anxiety and fear. Needless to say, fear and anxiety have been capitalized greatly by the law and order guy this election season.
Can we proceed as a country that is motivated by continuing hope and promise, certainty and optimism in terms of who we are as a people and nation ? I hope we can. The tumult of the carnival midway and the endless reality show we have witnessed should give pause for concern by all.
We need to ask anyone who would be a potential leader for all of us to give us much more than an empty bombastic reality show. Our country and our world need much more concentrated collaborative thought, policy enactment, governance and above all leadership.
May it be so.