Waiting on the Lame to Change

In the newest issue of Rolling Stone (with Kid Rock on the cover), pop culture writer Rob Sheffield lists as a “hot mood”(this was the “Hot Issue” - whatever that means) the idea that we as a society have all been driven toward an attitude of “Not Dealing With Reality.” This idea strikes me as funny; Sheffield covering the demise of culpability is really rich since he usually writes snarky, flavor-of-the-month columns while moonlighting as one of those Z-list celebs who participate in lame VH-1 programming like “Best Week Ever” and “The Top 50 _______est _______”.

In his contribution to the latest throwaway issue of RS (and seriously, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THAT MAGAZINE?!), he says “everywhere you go, you see people with dazed expressions in their eyes” and “ignoring any kind of news is now a fundamental part of the nation’s daily routine for not losing what’s left of our shit.” We don’t care, you see, because everything sucks and there is no hope for the immediate future. That harsh glow of reality is something we want to shield ourselves from like vampires at dawn. How shocking. He is truly insightful.

This would be fascinating and spot on if it weren’t some hack hybrid of writer/comic doing it or if it was any other magazine. Let’s get down to brass tacks: in theory, Rolling Stone does care about social and world issues. But they are now all old yuppies and they’re conflicted by their long dormant hippie consciences and currently being fat, soft and rich. They own a hybrid but also a gas guzzling muscle car because they fear losing their edge. In essence, Sheffield is writing an article telling us we can’t deal but, thirty-five pages before it, we were learning about the magazine’s take on politics and the war, with hacks such as Matt Tabbi feeding off a whiny “war for oil” diatribe over and over again until even the people who agree with him get turned off.

But despite all of that, Sheffield does present an interesting thought: have we decided to take the proverbial knee and let the clock run out on dealing with reality? In some odd sense, he’s right in that we have; everyone has a difficult time trusting or taking any politician’s word now. And it does seem that we would prefer to occupy our thoughts with who’s sticking around on “Dancing With the Stars” or what Britney was wearing (or not wearing!) on her fifteenth Starbucks run of the week. We do this, I think, because of two things: it’s easier in the long run and it’s always funnier when it’s someone else in trouble. But, to assume that we as a collective whole dropped out of the issues is lame and a shortcut to thinking.

Instead, the real deal is this: we do care, we are interested but no one is giving us anything to absorb. Mainstream news now is so far removed from actual reporting that is has become laughable. In place of people plainly reporting facts, we get old white men and perky young women with voices who project loudly, wear nice ties and have the agenda of their company as a priority. You can easily tune out because you don’t really need any more than one opinion and the channel that presents it. Take Rolling Stones’ National Affairs section for instance: it’s a mashup of four guys writing the same column and calling the president evil and any candidate coming up possibly evil. And yes, I agree, but I want them to try harder and present the other side; show me what’s going on over there. I WANT BALANCE.

It’s gotten to the point that no matter what side you take on the war, for example, you can’t handle marching in any of their parades. The antiwar kids look whiny and miss the point of their argument and the GOP pro-war kids come off as shortsighted and blind to the issues. It is so hard to form an opinion when you have to dig through the murk of rhetoric and then walk into a room filled with people you hate.

Maybe that’s what Sheffield missed when he was doing his stand-up routine on our apathy; maybe we just can’t stand either side. And, since no one is really standing up and delivering anything substantial, or even anything coherent, we have to fill in the blanks somehow. John Mayer gets blared through Starbucks and Targets in his pseudo-Dylan effort to make a statement, “Waiting on the World to Change.” There is no real way to handicap these things, but possibly the real mood the country is having towards itself is a lot like how most people feel about that song: Complete and utter frustration towards the apathy.