Amusing
Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman has gotten me thinking
on America’s entertainment culture and how it affects one’s ability to
comprehend the severity of a situation and counteracting the situation with
action.
Just this morning, cup of coffee and WhoKnew cookies
in hand (I’ve upgraded from the Oreos), I discovered that my usual morning
tradition, “Morning Joe,” was not on. So I decided that political satire would
be a fun wake-me-up before I started my day. Little did I know exactly what
type of wake-me-up I would receive.
I do not watch “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily
Show” frequently. The few times I have seen them, I have thought that they are
fun to watch and in general enjoyed the content. I’m not sure if I was paying
attention.
There’s a segment on “The Colbert Report” called “Tip
of the Hat, Wag of the Finger” where Colbert adds these motions to whatever he
is commenting on. This particular episode focused on China and North Korea
during the segment.
The “Tip of the Hat” was (of course, sarcastically)
directed towards the Chinese government.
If you have been keeping up with China (I became aware
during a debate I led stating that China would not surpass the United States as
the next superpower), you know that they’re having a huge problem with air pollution
because of the size of the population and amount of machinery and factories
releasing exhaust into the air.
Their economic boom is destroying their
environment.
Colbert reported on how the Chinese government and
media is handling the situation: by posting an article on the unifying effects
(poor and rich breathing in the same smoke, unified by a sense of humor about
the smog, etc.) of the smog and reducing the amount of alerts made about the
smog in order to make the situation seem less severe than it is.
I thought it was a good thing to report on, but I
certainly didn’t think it was something to laugh about. I attempted to put
myself in the shoes of the Chinese people, and I cannot imagine what it would
be like to be in a thick cloud of barely breathable air 24-7.
The audience was
laughing, Colbert was laughing, and I was thinking about Postman.
The delivery of this news and the lack of audience
awareness made the situation seem less terrible than it actually is. I began to
wonder how often this happens, and how often I fall into the same trend of
laughing at things that really deserve deeper and more serious contemplation.
Obviously, many of us have little to no power to aid
the environmental situation in China, particularly when we have many problems
of our own to take a look at. However, I think this is a good example of how we
can be blinded by humor as a sort of tranquilizer, because things such as these
are painful to contemplate.
I believe looking at humor as detrimental to our
society when used in the wrong way is extremely important. What do you think?
