The Charlie Sheen affair

This is a momentous and exciting time in the history of the world. All over the Middle East and across North Africa, ordinary people are rising up to demand that basic human rights be respected in their countries and that citizens have a say in how they are governed. In our own country, across the Mid-West, workers are marching in the streets and standing up for their rights to have some control over their own working lives. They are demanding that their dignity and the dignity of their work be respected and not denigrated and scapegoated. In Washington, one of the nation's major political parties is doing its dead-level best to take this country back to the mid-nineteenth century. In China, the government is cracking down on reporters, sometimes beating and arresting them as they attempt to show the effect of all the unrest in their own country.

In short, there is plenty of serious news to keep even the 24/7 news cycle of the cable news networks busy reporting it. So what do they choose to spend their time reporting on? A drug-addled, egomaniacal actor who is suffering from diarrhea of the mouth. Charlie Sheen can't shut up, and the networks and cable news love him for it. They keep encouraging him and enabling his mental breakdown and his career suicide by offering him chances to be interviewed on their various shows. This poor, sick, self-delusional man has become the main headline of many of the television "news" shows.

To give the devils their due, the news shows do actually spend time reporting on the real news stories of the day, some of which I mentioned in the first paragraph, but still, they give an inordinate amount of air time to this non-story. Another drug addict cracks up. Ho hum. Tell me again, exactly what is news about that?

I understand that Charlie Sheen is - or has been - the star of a popular telelvision show, one that a certain member of my family actually seems to enjoy watching. As such, no doubt his fans are sincerely interested in what is happening to him. His family and the people who care about him must be beside themselves with worry and concern over this sordid affair and certainly their suffering is not made less by the pandering of the news shows.

Personally, I have sympathy for Sheen as a human being. I do believe he is sick and that he needs help and I hope he gets it. But as a news story, I can state unequivocally that I do not give two figs for Charlie Sheen. I do not care if his series is canceled and his career ruined and I do not think that the news shows should spend one precious minute of their air time reporting on his situation. Not when there are people dying on the streets of Libya trying to bring democracy to that country. Not when the workers of America are under attack by determined and well-financed foes who do not believe they should have the right to organize and bargain collectively. Not when children in Texas and across the country stand to lose health insurance coverage and to have the quality of their education debased because politicians want to pay back their wealthy supporters.

No, there are too many real and important stories that need reporting. We do not need the distraction of the Charlie Sheen affair.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

Search This Blog