Hoping For the Worst

Last night I watched Jay Leno’s monologue. He asked the audience this question, “How many of you watched the VP debate to see Sarah Palin screw up?” Wild applause and cheers. Then he followed with, “How many watched to see Joe Biden screw up?” Wild applause and cheers. No winner. Everybody was hoping for a screw up.

I didn’t laugh. In fact, I felt sad. What have we come to when we admit to watching a debate JUST to watch somebody make a mistake? Are these the same people who’ll sit at a highway rail crossing to see if there is going to be a train wreck? Are these the people who would have gathered in the medieval square to watch a heretic hung, drawn and quartered? How messed up have we become?

Mark Twain liked to make fun of politicians, and indeed, it has long been a national pastime. But I think I detect a difference in the historic way this was done and the way it’s being done in the last 30 or 40 years. Comics are spending a great deal of time and energy focused on the foibles of those who are to lead us. And considering most young adults get their news from the satiric “news” shows such as the Colbert Report and The Daily Show, we are spending a great deal of time and energy ridiculing people in government. Not that some of it is not on point—it is. But it has become unrelenting and continuous, even to the point of Jay’s question which could have gone unasked forever.

Nobody would have taken on FDR, HST, or JFK or others like them in the way it’s done today. Are we better or worse for the change?

Peace,

Jerry+