Shades of Gray
The front headline, above the paper’s masthead, reads: “Whacked?”
Without seeing the photograph associated with it, one could assume this might have to do with the war in Iraq, or some local crime scheme.
No.
It is an article about the end of “The Sopranos” on Sunday. This was on the front page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle.
I have watched this show from the very beginning. It is a very good television show, and the theological lessons that can be gleaned from the program are quite many, beginning with the fact that we can relate to the lead character (not from the crime boss aspect) but because his life is a reflection of ours, trapped in our sinful nature, often succumbing to the temptations that are prevalent in life. We don’t see a black and white world in Tony’s world, and unfortunately, our world is very much the same way. He is a bad guy, yet he is a family man struggling to do the right thing for his family. This is a television show that is a reflection of the postmodern age in which we live, with many shades of gray.
But as good as this program is, as much of an impact it has made on American pop culture, should this really be front page news of daily newspaper in a large American city? What does this say about our culture - that the headline ABOVE the masthead is for the series finale of a pay cable television show?
Have we become that vacuous so as to place entertainment above the reality of our world? (After all, on the same front page is a teaser graphic for an article about the home confinement of a certain hotel chain heiress.) Or are we really looking for an escape from the trappings of our world because we are so disillusioned by our world - eventhough the world into which we are escaping is a mirror of our own?
I don’t know the answer.
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By Peter Burch, June 8, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
it is all about selling newspapers and making money. after all, when was the last time the sf chronicle broke a nationally relevant (non-barry bonds) story anyway.
By Will Robison, June 8, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
The pity is that newspapers have become completely irrelevant because the intelligent people of this country have finally been outnumbered. The majority of people have allowed the newsmedia to think for them and the resultant power change has given the newsmedia carteblanche to decide what is important for us to think. In any other time in our nation’s history, with the possible exception of the McCarthy era, I’m certain that FOX News could not survive, much less thrive.
When the middle class of this country decides to finally take back this country from the whackos of both sides and to replace infotainment with hard, straight, reality, we might finally get some real news again. Until then… well, I’m sure this is what happened in Rome right before the barbarians sacked it.
By Roseuvsharon, June 9, 2007 @ 12:08 am
Will you are spot on!
A lot of things in our society today are similar to the culture of Rome shortly before its demise.
History repeats itself, especially when we are too stupid to learn from those who have gone before us.
By Andy, June 9, 2007 @ 5:45 am
Agreed, all.
My hometown paper is, frankly, a piece of garbage. The only reason I maintain a home delivery of said paper is that the best newspaper in the area (the San Jose Mercury News) does not deliver to my neighborhood.
Infotainment and the 30 second (if that long) sound bite are how we form our opinions about today’s topics…and that’s just sad.
When our entertainment includes a game show challenging adults as to their knowledge of elementary school topics (with said adults failing miserably in most instances), ’tis a sad, sad state of affairs in this country.
By Peter Burch, June 9, 2007 @ 4:00 pm
more people in america probably know what milefromthebeach is, than the name of the man who shot alexander hamilton.
By Andy, June 9, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
Peter, that’s a scary proposition. ;-)