David Simon, Angst and New Life

David Simon, the journalist, author and writer/producer of the acclaimed show The Wire was in Greencastle last night. He was the invited guest for a conference on the future of journalism (for future journalists), and I went. The two episodes of The Wire I had seen were great works. But really hooked me was David's title for the lecture ... The Audacity of Despair: The Decline of the American Empire and What's In it For You.

I should have known by the title alone that David was going to be rather audacious in his persona, but I half expected an outlandish title with a blaisse conversation. As a pastor, I know it's easier to write bold words than it is to speak or embody them.

Turns out the title was rather innocent compared to David Simon.

The man was refreshingly honest (and openly crass ... so, let me add a warning ... if you do read his books or watch his shows or hear him speak, please do not think I'm endorsing his language or harshness. But I do appreciate his honesty). In fact his honesty was so strong that the whole audience began to skirm in their chairs no more than five minutes after he opened his mouth. He got to us. He got to me.

Now, granted: what he was saying was not something I wanted to hear (I'll share his thoughts here in a second). But, who he was and how he was embodying his belief was inspiring. Here he was ... someone who had been a journalist, someone who cared deeply about his home city of Baltimore, someone who is serious with life enough to live in the face of real injustice and crime ... willing to speak passionately about justice and injustice. He said plainly ... over and over again ... we do not want to face the facts. As Americans, we have grown accustomed to comfort over truth.

What he is is a prophet, at least in the biblical sense of the word. The biblical prophets - like Jeremiah and Ezekiel - made the people of God face reality, even when the reality wasn't easy. That's what David Simon was trying to say last night. He was saying, "we can do better; we have not done our best." I could not believe how open he was about it.

And that gets me to what you want to hear ... which is what he said.

David Simon's main point is that we've been making crap in this country for thirty years and expecting gold (except he didn't say crap). He said we've been living out of other people's pockets instead of developing our own communities (the key line in The Wire by David's own admission is when one guy says, "we haven't made anything in this country for thirty years ... we use to make stuff."). He said we've become a culture of individual promotion to the exlusion of community benefit. He said we've become so obsessed with "statistics" that we can stare glaring truths right in our face and claim they are not true ("There are 60 ways to make statistics lie so it looks like crime is going down," he said. "I know. Having worked in crime journalism for thirteen years, I've seen 58 ways."). He said we've lost any sense of professional integrity that will hold us to a task for a sustained period - longing instead for quick promotion and 36% margins of profit.

(If you would like to get a sampling of his thoughts, click here ... it's an article about the show The Wire, but at the end is the full transcript of the interview).

So, here's what I agree with David about ...
1. We have seen capitalism run afoul and personal promotion triumph over community welfare.
2. We've seen the triumph of "statistics" and "information" over pure reason and moral sense ... interestingly this is the exact point Edward Friedman made about American culture, and like David Simon, Friedman suggests that despite our "technological" advances our culture is in regression.
3. The only way to really stem this problem is to cease reliance or belief that someone "outside" of the situation is going to fix it and to begin working where we are (i.e. locally) to figure out what is not working and what will work.
4. The birth of the global news network has limited the ability for individuals to speak truth to power (much of David's talk reminded me of that great movie Network and the dangers of making our news sources "profitable" for or because of entertainment).
5. We are eating our young (as Parker Palmer says) by demanding unrealistic growth out of our investments, our businesses, and in our life.
6. We cannot expect a "hero" to save us from our ills - whether that hero is a politician, a product, a technology or a movement. Only a return to honest work over a sustained period of time will save us.
7. Life is essentially tragic, and - as David said - we can learn alot about how to live by re-engaging the tragedies of Shakespeare and Greek drama. We too need to learn how to be human even in the face of tragedy.

On the other hand, here is where I would differ from David Simon:
1. While life is indeed tragedy, it is also - as Frederick Buechner says - comedy and fairy tale and we haven't told the whole truth until we acknowledge the personal, intimate way God deals with the suffering of the world through Jesus Christ.
2. While I agree that David's anger is largely justifiable, I do not agree that anger is what will solve our community and national problems. I believe righteous indignation can be a spark for progress, but I also believe that radical movements throughout history that are sustained by anger instead of love and self-sacrifice end up becoming corrupted by the very power they seek to be rid of.
3. A return to sound reporting is not the answer ... the answer is in the work of the Holy Spirit guiding persons of faith to immerse themselves in the tragedy and problems of their community, trusting that God will bring new life into the misery through love, hope and faith. And, more often than not (if not all the time), such virtuous living in the face of ongoing danger, exploitation and power does not win. It is killed, only to be resurrected by God in a triumph of humility. Such is the way of Christ and the followers of Jesus Christ. What gives life to community is the willingness of individuals courageously seeking the good of others ... even when it limits or hurts their own life.

But, still, it takes someone with courage and hootzpa to at least say, like David Simon and Peter Beale ... "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." In fact, as Eugene Peterson says, rejection of the world is and always has been the place where we begin our journey back to God and goodness begins:

"A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquillity, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace." (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society)

So, thank you, David, for increasing my appetite for the world of grace. And, Jesus: may you strengthen me to engage this tragic world so that I too - like you - might experience the divine comedy of God's love and grace.

Wes