"We must go far beyond any transformation of contemporary culture. —
— Our cultural resources have lost their integrity. They cannot be trusted. What is needed is not transcendence but “inscendence”, a return to our deeper knowing."
Fr. Thomas Berry
Those words by Thomas Berry are featured on our new Green Mountain Monastery website home page. So what are our cultural resources? Never has his words seemed so urgent... “Our cultural resources have lost their integrity.”
I am sitting here, 13 days into 2021, recalling the Feast of the Epiphany, Wednesday, January 6th as I watched the treasonous seditious terrorist spectacle unfold at the US capitol on Television. Glued to my screen on that day and watching in horror, like most of you relying on the screens during Covid days at home.
I am pretty sure we all have watched more television programing then ever since this Covid lockdown. Sometimes out of sheer boredom. Sometimes trying to decipher the ever changing landscape. Each news cycle bringing yet another atrocity into our homes. Combine that with the winter weather that is upon us, and a new more viral strains of Covid, and guessing we will all continue to watch our screens.
So maybe like me, you’ve subscribed to different media platforms over this last year. Different streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ (if you have kids in the house)... and of course there is cable TV, Xfinity, and tons of reruns. I live alone, and so it has been a fun diversion to have a selection of programs to watch.
I realize each day brings us to the edge of our seats, a new Covid count, another spectacle unfolds, so a little mindless TV binge-watching of Cobra Kai (a spin off of the Karate Kid) can’t hurt, can’t be harmful, seems to be a benign thing to do in the face of so much uncertainty. I have enjoyed “The Mandalorian” the latest Star Wars series on Disney+ and have found that Binge watching seems to be the go to release valve needed when the news becomes so bad, wanting to just bury my head and not think.
Although I find myself gritting my teeth watching “Sponsors” routinely assault our intelligence with Emu’s selling insurance, Ronald (creepy clown) McDonald enticing kids to eat poorly with the promise of another little plastic toy ( that ends up in the landfill), but I suppose if BLUE BEARS talking about toilet paper and the “good go” doesn’t disturbed you at some level, doesn’t make you question, and doesn’t make you want to run out of the room screaming, then I guess screen watching is is perfect antidote to our collective uneasiness about the future.
Sure it entertains, but TV, I am finding is a Big mistake. There is a mind numbing quality built into programming, 15 minutes of Kim Kardashian West, talking about nothing much, followed 3 to 5 minutes of advertisements meant to motivate us into taking on huge amounts of debt to finance extravagant but unnecessary purchases. As if “Infinity” is in the driveway! For years we have feasted on these non-nutritional delights, programs like The Bachelorette, and Survivors. While emptying our pockets buying the next As Seen On TV product for $19.99. Corporate advertisers have gotten fat on the lavish banquet of televised Mediocracy. The truth is we have become malnourished, “Our cultural resources have lost their integrity.” But isn’t that Capitalism at its best? (That was a rhetorical question)
Television programming that is meant to have us mentally flat-line is in abundance 24/7. It is like being exposed to chemical household products. We have all been accidentally exposing ourselves in small unnoticed increments to the numbing/dumbing down effect of modern-day program entertainment for a very long time. As I find myself watching more TV then ever, I realize It can be a black hole sucking us in, a portal taking us into a cultural waist land, where anything bordering on intellectual or even factual has been canceled. This is not new, And some people will object to my critique. I have been told by some that they watch the most heinous gruesome crime shows, based on the most horrifying crimes because they are interested in forensics?! Really? Forensics?
In a culture where we entertain ourselves with programming like “Dr. Pimple Popper” (no I have never watched it).... I gagged just hearing the name, or Hoarders , I think it is time to examine what our dominant culture is feeding us.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Hum-Bug! I love the arts and entertainment industry, I love good movies, some in my family work in the industry! Just feeling tired of the mind numbing mediocrities that comprises the content of so many shows out there, and don’t get me started on the advertisers!
So I am Hoping to hear from you, your ideas, how you spend your Covid lockdown days. What programming you have found both entertaining, and life giving. Maybe we can share some suggestions over these coming months. Until the Covid vaccine is available, many of us will be home alone with our screens.....
Stay safe, Stay well!
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