If you'll indulge me, I'm going to spend most of this post making wild comparisons between the frivolity of pop culture and the seriousness of the real world. So, you're warned. Anyway, thanks in no small part to the stupidity of pop culture news today--hey, everybody who needed confirmation that Brett Ratner is a douchebag, this is your lucky day--I got thinking about the way this year has unfolded. We began the year with what's been dubbed the Arab Spring, in which the people of Middle Eastern countries began rising up against their leaders, creating democracy as opposed to waiting for another dictatorial move.
The way the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and other countries spoke out against tyranny was inspiring and will remain so for the future. You want your Time Person of the Year? Look no further than the men and women of those countries, those brave people who stood up for a righteous cause even under the threat of torture or death. Now that Gaddafi (or Qaddafi, or however his name is spelled, and wasn't that the worst type of topical humor this year? I digress.) is dead, the remnants of the Arab Spring remain outside of the Middle East. In Greece, we've seen the establishment of politics get unseated due to financial worries. And in our country, the Occupy Wall Street protests have gathered steam quickly over the past couple of months. The attitude of these protests is the same as that from the Arab Spring.
Of course, the media has been stymied by the Occupiers from the beginning. "What do you want? Why don't you have a clear list of demands? We don't know how to cover complex issues anymore!" It's harder to overhaul the financial system than to overthrow a dictator, sure, but it's also very clear that the cynicism dominating this country is echoed by the Occupy Wall Street protests. What's more, when we see stories of peaceful protesters being attacked by cops in Oakland or Boston or somewhere else, you just have to wonder if the establishment has any idea how that looks to the so-called 99 percent. But what the establishment thinks the rest of us wants versus what we actually want is a very common theme this year.
It happened in the Arab Spring, it's happening in Occupy Wall Street, and lately, it's been happening in popular culture. Another term that will live with 2011 is Qwikster. You all remember Qwikster, right? Back in the halcyon days of September, the people who run Netflix thought that their subscribers secretly wanted two separate sites and bills for the separate actions of streaming movies and watching them on those boring old DVDs. (Aren't DVDs and Blu-rays BORING, you guys? Barf.) What Qwikster will be remembered for isn't just as being one of the great bonehead moves in modern business. What people remember is that the Netflix execs, lead by Reed Hastings, almost immediately reversed their decision. Only a couple of weeks after announcing Qwikster's existence, they said they made a mistake and promised to keep Netflix the way it is...well, except for all those pesky price hikes. Those are here to stay. And while Netflix isn't as establishment as a dictator or greedy American politicians, the attitude the company exuded during this debacle is that we didn't know yet that we wanted Qwikster, but we really did, so stop all yer whinin', folks.
The establishment reared its ugly head when the Oscars hired Brett Ratner to produce the Oscars. I'll only spend a few sentences on this, because I did spend a lot of time talking about Ratner and the Oscars yesterday. It just so happens that in the last 24 hours, some comments that Ratner made at a Q-and-A in Los Angeles Friday night made news on the Internet. In response to a question about whether or not he rehearsed with his actors, Ratner said, "Rehearsal is for fags." Though Ratner has already apologized for his idiotic remarks, what some have wondered is if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will make Ratner step down. Listen, I'd love for him to not produce the Oscars, but I have a feeling AMPAS will just shrug and assume we'll all forget about Ratner's homophobic comment by the time the Oscars air. (I, of course, will be watching to see if every aspect of the show seems improv-ed or...you know, REHEARSED. 'Cause that would be so queer, AMIRITE, FELLAS?)
But here's the thing: Brett Ratner has long cultivated his "I live the Entourage lifestyle every day and isn't that baller?" persona. So to anyone surprised, shocked, or disappointed by these comments, I'd like to heartily extend my welcome to you from the cave you've been living in for so long. Thanks for checking out the blog, folks. To everyone else, I guess the only question I'd ask is: why are we so much more angry that Brett Ratner used a homophobic slur than his demeaning comments about Olivia Munn last week? There were rumors that she was referring to Ratner and his allegedly tiny manhood in her book, and a few days ago, he said that he'd "banged" her back when she "wasn't Asian," and a shiny farthing to anyone who can tell me what the hell that means. And you know, I'm not the biggest fan of Olivia Munn, but Ratner's just as demeaning towards women as he is to gay people. Be outraged, sure. But be equally outraged. And don't hold your breath for a new Oscar producer. AMPAS thinks we want a young Oscars, and they think Brett Ratner has his finger on the pulse of the country. When AMPAS realizes they made a mistake, maybe they'll hire Justin Bieber to host next time.
I suppose my basic point here is that the establishment's tone-deafness has been much more obvious as of late. I was thinking this again over the weekend, when the absolutely disgusting controversy at Penn State emerged publicly. For those who haven't read the story, it goes like this: Jerry Sandusky worked under Joe Paterno for the PSU footabll team until 1999, when he resigned. Sandusky is now being charged with pedophilia for having forcibly raped young boys all the way from 1994 to 2009. And Paterno, the college president, and other higher-ups at the college knew. They were told by a then-grad assistant (who's as at fault as anyone else for not telling, you know, THE POLICE) in 2002, after said assistant witnessed Sandusky having sex with a boy in the showers. Two of the higher-ups have resigned or gone on sabbatical, but let's be clear: this is an embarrassing and nauseating abuse of power, and everyone involved needs to be brought up on criminal charges. The grand jury investigation related to this took place over 2 years, and the evidence is more than damning. The response from the college's president is as noncommittal and jaw-dropping as you can imagine; Graham Spanier is unaware or unwilling to accept his complicity in this matter, and his public response just makes me wonder what it is about people.
Is it that these people are born into wealth and never grasp what the rest of society is like? Is it that these people let money warp their minds once they get it? I guess this is just an extrapolation of fears I have about growing up. I'm a relatively progressive guy, and the old stereotype is that young progressives harden into old conservatives. One day, people my age will see me as the establishment. I can't imagine that day, but I can only hope that I won't represent the establishment if this is what the establishment looks like.
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