Oh Dear God ... when will it STOP????

I've always loved what the late comedic genius Bill Hicks said about American TV in the late 80's and early 90's when he observed that much of the programming was obviously designed to put consumers to sleep so they won't notice what is really happening in the world ... this was the era of the American Gladiator, and LONG before shows like Survivor or the other "reality" shows turned up ... then a few short years ago another comedic genius, this time Robin Williams pondered if Caligula, the hedonistic Roman Empire would look at our current culture and say: "WTF people?" at what he was witnessing ...

Today, with the launch of "The Real Housewives of Vancouver" I can only hope we've scraped the absolute BOTTOM of the barrel, and our tv network executives will finally abandon the foolishness that fills our screens and STOP using self-absorbed bimbos as programming fodder for a society that has lost its way.

I have some respect for shows like "Til Debt Do Us Part" and "Princess" where the intent is to help people deal with thier financial woes by addressing the root causes of the problems they are facing. Often the overspending is caused by an unrealistic and unchecked sense of entitlement that has arisen because the word NO has never passed the lips of those who don't understand what it means to work and save for something ... That air of entitlement though, has so deeply permeated our culture that we have come to regard the Real Housewives shows as something worth watching.

I will admit I have watched some of the other Real Housewives shows for brief periods from time to time, but the attitude and world view of these divas turns my stomach ... what I would like to see, rather than shows that highlight out of control spending, is a show that highlights the struggles of REAL people who are struggling with under employment and living cheque to cheque ... people who know what it means to live on minimum wage and struggle to put a roof over their head and food on the table.

Instead of watching the super wealth flaunt their riches and preen around showing us how much they can spend, let's have programmes that show us HOW TO SURVIVE in a world that has lost its way ...

As I watch what the various tv networks have to offer, I can't help but wonder what Marshall McLulhan would say of the media and the message it continues to puke up all over our screens, and how we could possibly sit and continue to watch this tripe.

My empassioned prayer today is for programming that is worthwhile for a change ...

I would rather watch Hoarders and see people struggling with real life and make positive and live altering changes, then EVER watch ANY of the Real Housewives programmes with people so out of touch with reality that they can't see it ...

Sad is all I can offer - just profoundly sad!!

Public Policy needs to be PROACTIVE, not reactive ...

The event itself was horrendous and unimaginable ... as details have emerged it has moved from bad to worse ... The death of Timothy McLean was a tragedy of immeasurable proportions ... but the media feeding frenzy around the trial that wraps up today in Winnipeg has served no one ...

The family's push for "Tim's Law" is reactive and would serve no one, particularly those who have experienced mental illness ...

I can't help but wonder if Gandhi's counsel - "an eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind" is apt in the face of the coverage ...

Those fellow passengers traumatized by the events on the bus need help to move to wholeness ... the family of the victim are deserving of our respect and care in their profound grief ... and the perpetrator is worthy and in desperate need of support, healing and HELP too!!

The unfortunate thing now is that the lawyers are swirling like sharks in a feeding frenzy ... they are ALL talking about the MONEY ... and no one is talking about JUSTICE, WHOLENESS or WELL BEING ... all things that can not be bought nor sold ...

My feelings on this are guided by the experience of a wonderful man I knew once who was a father, a grandfather and a respected member of his community ... then one day he began hearing voices telling him to do all manner of horrible things ... his life began a spiral even with the love and support of his family ... and things just fell apart. Mental illness is a horrible thing ... and those who suffer and experience it need help and that help will never come, nor be adequate until we lift the stigma ...

Like Scott Peck said in his book "Road Less Traveled" - if we break our leg we go to the hospital and get help, but if we have a mental breakdown, we hide away ..."

The problem in that moment lies in our society - NOT in the person suffering from Mental Illness ... it is time to lift the stigma, NOT deepen it ...

I hope the media is listening ... though I doubt it ...

SAY it AIN'T so !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The CBC headline "No Laughing Matter: Satirical Magazine FRANK folds" caught my attention ...


While I'm not a subscriber to FRANK magazine, for a time in the mid-90's a friend repeatedly supplied me with a number of his back issues of the irreverent, hilarious and cutting edge magazine ... I LOVED IT. They made you think and made you laugh simultaneously ... often they could both offend and entertain in the same breath too.


Frank was a breath of fresh air in a world dripping with Reagan-omics, the Mulroney era and all the brutal silliness that era represented ... it changed and adapted and continued on through the 90's and the Aughts, ending its print run with the current issue ... Though I haven't read an entire issue in quite sometime, I for one will mourn its passing ... FRANK was willing to say what others might think, and it was willing to take chances no one else would ... I have respect for that, both in politics and in religion ...


What the world needs is MORE Frank Magazines, not less ...


I'm sorry to see it go ... no doubt Brian and the rest of the Mulroney clan aren't sorry to see it's demise, nor Mike Duffy either ...

Harry Potter and Headlines ...

This past week author J.K. Rowling revealed that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was Gay ... and the media flew into a frenzy of commentaries and speculations ... the religious right rose in indignation at the tainting of impressionable young minds and questions Dumbledore's relationship with young Harry ... and people began to speculate how such a "significant" detail could have been over looked, ... AND EVERYONE went looking for clues to this "revelation."
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Meanwhile ... the world carried on, and real life continued to unfold and be lived ... Everyone seemed to forget one simple fact in the midst of ALL of this ... and that is Harry Potter and the seven hugely successful books and five movies ARE FICTION !!!!!!

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Having said that, I can't help but think that our media is stretching for stories lately ... the major web sites have entire sections chronicling the antics of "STARS" like Britney, Paris, and who ever slithers onto the radar screen of pop culture ... and we get reams and reams of stories about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Even this morning on CBC's programme "The House" had listened questioning why our Government won't tackle the issue we're really concerned about - poverty, homelessness, loss of job, and the loss of security for those who are not in the 6 figure income group ... This past week I had an intense conversation with someone for whom the biggest issue facing us is Violence against women.

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He noted the coverage of the Pickton Trial in BC and said - "that should never have happened, but it was women who were his victims ... if he was killing men, it would have made headlines after the second woman went missing ..." I shared with him a conversation I had with one of the esteemed elders of a BC Church who during the time Police were identifying dozens of missing women on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver looked at the photos on the Front Page of a Newspaper and said - "well, they're women who have chosen to live that kind of lifestyle ..."

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I've always wondered if she would feel that way if it was HER granddaughter missing from the streets of Vancouver ... or was it simply a case of women who were to be regarded as disposable because of their social background, because of their ethnicity, because of their addictions, or because they have been victims of violence since their lives began ...

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In Tomson Highway's works, Violence against Women is a dominant theme. His motivation has been the friendship with Helen Betty Osborne, the First Nations woman who died in The Pas in 1971, and for decades, her murder remained "un-solved" ... The scenes dealing with the casual nature of violence against Native Women in Kiss of the Fur Queen are devestatingly honest ... and utterly breath-taking (and NOT in a good way) ...

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I marvel though, at how our Media can focus SO much attention on something as completely and utterly irrelevant and unimportant as the sexuality of a figure in a book for children and youth ... I say "hear hear" to the revelations of Dumbledore's homosexuality - our children deserve to have literary figures who reflect the marvelous diversity of the HUMAN family. Reading about key figures in a story line like Harry Potter who are gay and lesbian is merely a reflection of the REAL world that we inhabit.

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Maybe as we teach our children values like tolerance and understanding and (heaven forbid) acceptance, we will begin to see the world change for the better ... THEN perhaps we will not only begin to talk about issues like poverty, homelessness, violence and the other REAL issues that grip us, maybe our children will finally do the task that we are failing to do - ADDRESSING THOSE ISSUES.

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If nothing else, the whole frenzy over Dumbledore's sexuality has shown us the shallowness of our media and their open reluctance to address and deal with the REAL issues that dog us ... AND the parallel reluctance of our Government to deal with the same issues ...

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Maybe one day we'll finally stand in a place where poverty, homelessness, violence and other such issues are addressed ... and we no longer hear dismissive sentiments about the deaths of women like Helen Betty Osborne, the women from the Downtown East side, or any of the victims of a violence that is an intolerable component of our world ... Instead of diverting our attention with the sexuality of characters in Childrens' Books, our media would better serve us by reminding us of WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT !!!