SCREEN SPACE vs AIR TIME: BEING HELPFUL

What are the goals of screen space and air time? Fill them up.

That’s the primary goal.

Secondary goals are making sense, being interesting, and ultimately trying to be helpful.

I’m helpful. Which isn’t a way of asking, ‘Are you helpful?’

I can’t speak for all tall, old, white men, but I do have a request:

If you happen to be a tall, old, white man, try and be helpful.

Unhelpful old white men make the rest of us look bad; tall, short, or somewhere in between.

When someone with such a profile puts on a suit and tie and sits in front of a TV camera wearing showtime make-up, they are subliminally saying, ‘Trust me.’

And why not? They went through all the trouble to look trustworthy, so that’s something.

The problems start when The Man goes down his list of tired accusations, false observation, and finishing with complete and utterly nonsensical fucking bullshit.

“Oh,” say the apologists, “This is not an issue. It was a joke. Kidding around. Locker room talk. Come on, grow a pair. You don’t want to be a snowflake the rest of your life. Man Up, little bitch.”

In other words, “Get On The Bus.”

The only problem? You have no say in where the bus is going, or who else is getting on.

Someone knows where it’s going, and who’s getting on, just not you, so stay in your lane and be a ‘team player.’

Sound familiar?

 

Team Players Welcome

I’ve been to Spain and I’ve been to England; I’ve never been to heaven, but I’ve been to Oklahoma.

After covering that kind of ground, as well as hitchhiking from North Bend,Oregon to Iowa City, Iowa, and back in 1973, it would be impossible for me to write nonsensical bullshit on this boomerpdx blog.

That’s another writer, another blogger, on another platform, not here.

My style, and goal, is more on the helpful side. For example:

It was wrong to hang women as witches. 

That’s not a question.

 

Hold on to the history rope and hold on tight when you discover some of the horrible events from the past.

I didn’t need to know about more women being convicted for witchcraft.

Witchcraft is not something I’m familiar with and will never be familiar with, but it seems more likely that women tried and convicted by men is more an example of bullying than justice.

Which is nothing new.

Did I expect to find witches in Lancaster Castle in Lancaster, England?

No more than I expected to find them in Salem, Massachusetts.

Who got the better deal in the end?

None of them.

They had crowds watching a hanging?

“Hey, honey, what do you want to do today with the kids?”

“Let’s go the witch hanging. I heard they’ll be using the short drop so there’ll be plenty of witch dancing.”

“Okay, but be careful. I don’t want you getting carried away and thought to be a witch. The kids and I don’t want to see you dancing on the end of a short drop rope.”

“Nor would we want to see you there.”

“Are you casting a spell on me?”

“Not at all, dear. Why do you ask?”

 

It is wrong to blame problems on the weakest populations and punish them with a cruel and unusual execution to show the crowds you take witchcraft seriously?

Do you take witchcraft seriously? Would you attend a hanging and standby while some poor woman strangles to death?

When you hear the word ‘hanging’ what’s the first thing you think of?

 

If the ‘drop’ is too short, or the noose has been wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation is not rapid and death results from slow asphyxiation.

If this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the eyes pop, the body defecates, and violent movements of the limbs occur.

 

The witches got the short drop for entertainment purposes.

Eventually civic minded people decided on other entertainment, but there’s always someone casting an eye cast back on ‘the good old days,’ even the horrific ones.

 

The Other Entertainment

Filling screen space and air time were not a problem in the administration before Biden.

People were clamoring to introduce themselves to the new guy, kiss the ring, then complain and denounce when they didn’t pucker up often enough.

Was it entertaining? Yes.

Was it presidential? No.

After those four years came Biden’s boring four years.

The difference was Biden wasn’t as boring as portrayed.

Instead of boring, Biden was being helpful.

The big problem? He didn’t fill screen space and air time with his egocentric blather.

He didn’t pump himself up as the only person who could possibly make any progress in modern America.

His heroics weren’t on the same level as press conferences to shit-talk so the right people remembered who he was.

Being president was enough.

Winners don’t have to remind people they are winners, unless they are trying to appeal to rabid ADHD  people who hear the same thing over and over like it’s the first time they ever heard it.

Being president ought to be enough for anyone.

If it’s not enough, then they aren’t presidential material.

 

Remember, you’re not a baby.

You don’t need spoon fed entertainment.

Long ago I heard politics described as ‘show business for unattractive people.’

Does that mean attractive people should stay clear of putting their name on a ballot?

If you’re not a pretty boy, a pretty girl, and you need adulation? Run for an office.

Get enough votes often enough and you might feel that inner-beauty you hear about.

Win enough elections and you may start feeling like the smartest person ever born, with a responsibility to tell all about it.

There’s never enough screen pace and air time in the history of earth for them.

Baby boomers have done plenty for the rest of you.

We elected Nixon. Twice. But that wasn’t enough.

We elected Reagan. But that wasn’t enough.

We elected the Bush Family.

Let’s join hands and say enough Trump after the first term.

He had his run, looked like he was enjoying his time in the special aura as leader of the free world.

He’s had a big run his entire life, and looks like he loved it.

But things do catch up on us as we age.

From poor health, to bad character, to inciting an insurrection, let the old man move on.

Let him find screen space and air time alone.

It’s time to take care of the future.