Wednesday, 05 May 2010

• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels*

  or, Sinning Vicariously

  I know, I know.  Korean soaps are crack.  I tell people this all the time.  Once you start, it's almost impossible to stop.  It's addicting, and it drains the brain.  I have to confess at this point that I saw a few episodes of a long-past series (no, I won't tell you which one) and I come away with the same point, as usual.  The same reason I always chose not to watch these flicks, along with the dozens of chick-flick, girl-power, romantic-comedy, girl-meets-idiot-boy, cheap and superficial movies: they reinforce the same idea over and over again.  Life is a movie, there is a hero/heroine, everybody knows their lines, and the most important point of all: 

  Men are dirty rotten scoundrels. 

  There.  I said it.  The matter of whether or not this is true is a different statement altogether.  Also, it being in the gray area past my bedtime and the "hour of no return" has no bearing on this subject.  

  But really, why is it that the function of men (and women, for that matter) has so degraded?  I'm sure it's not just in the cinemas; "art imitating life" and all.  Women are no less to blame.  We too, are dirty rotten scoundrels.  Scoundrel, for those of you who are interested, means an evil person whose vile actions are not only cruel but often deliberate or intentional.  

  Is there anyone there who will throw the first stone?

  Evil has made us all deliberate and intentional malefactors.  I am not even sure I can point my finger at the prince of evil himself (he who deserves no capitals in the proper noun of evil.)  How far have we gone that we don't miss the absence of goodness in our life?  That our every day wickedness fails to turn our stomachs, or make us avert our eyes?  How is it that the phrase 'dirty rotten scoundrel' doesn't really sound so out of place?  Familiar, even?  Does anyone want to protest?  (OK, so it's a well-known musical and film.)

  Where have we come to?

  Entertainment for the most part is a glorification of the dysfunctions of life.  We find joy in other people's miseries, not because they are particularly amusing, but perhaps because they are somewhat relatable, if not alluring.  We've become better at empathizing from afar, and commiserating with strangers on a screen has become easier than resolving life with the ones we share spaces with.  And I'm not talking the space bar.  Instead of just living vicariously, we have looked to sinning vicariously.  How crazy is that?

  Since when did broken relationships become so standard?  How did broken hearts and illicit affairs and indecent fraternizations become conventional? And why, for all that is meaningful in life, do we find so much enjoyment in that?  Why is it "relaxing" to "turn ourselves off" sometimes?  And why is the off button in the land in which we don't live in real life?  Why is it that we need to escape?

  We must be dirty rotten scoundrels. 

  We are liars, and cheaters, and thieves.  We lie about our affections, and give what is not ours to distribute.  And this is the 21st Century.  Not much has changed in the past few years.  As it's been said, "times have not become more violent; they've just become more televised."  (Marilyn Manson.)  And it's not only become more televised, it's become more in demand on television.  

  Dysfunction is fascinating.  I think we are ceaselessly intrigued at this anomaly that is evil.  It's like a virus that is killing us and entertaining us at the same time.  I think as humans we desire mutuality, and unity, and sympathy.  What evil has violated this once perfect world?  What fascination that still grips us...  we all want to be told that it's ok.  That we are not abnormal.  That everyone. does. that. 

  But not all.  My idealist side (it refuses to die...  I've tried, really) wants to see the goodness, the trust, the supernatural affection.  I lean towards the peaceful, the hopeful, the wonderful.  I can't wait for the time when the craving of my soul is filled, and the small taste of goodness I can detect in the world becomes an all-out banquet table.  

  No, we are not dirty rotten scoundrels.  We have been washed in the waters of the murky Jordan, and we have come out clean.  The mystery of peace in this world is something I want to revel in for the rest of my life.  I say revel because I have tasted it, experienced it, loved it.  I say it because the answers I have found, although not clean and crisp, and arrangeable in Excel spreadsheets, have proven much more stable than the answers that I used to think were clean and crisp. I've analyzed data.  Read the books.  Made spreadsheets and grant proposals and scientific inquiries.  But I choose this.  Because this is where the answers were. 

  Imagine that.  Imagine living vicariously instead of dying.  Imaging knowing instead of wondering.  Imagine peace instead of doubt.  Imagine a life where we are not dirty, or rotten, or in any other stage of decomposition.  Imagine being the sons and daughters of the King.  

   

  *with edits

  • 11:47 PM
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