Session 1: Communication in the age of Polarization
יומא חד הוה קא סחי ר' יוחנן בירדנא חזייה ריש לקיש ושוור לירדנא אבתריה אמר ליה חילך לאורייתא אמר ליה שופרך לנשי א"ל אי הדרת בך יהיבנא לך אחותי דשפירא מינאי קביל עליה בעי למיהדר לאתויי מאניה ולא מצי הדר אקרייה ואתנייה ושוייה גברא רבא יומא חד הוו מפלגי בי מדרשא הסייף והסכין והפגיון והרומח ומגל יד ומגל קציר מאימתי מקבלין טומאה משעת גמר מלאכתן ומאימתי גמר מלאכתן רבי יוחנן אמר משיצרפם בכבשן ריש לקיש אמר משיצחצחן במים א"ל לסטאה בלסטיותיה ידע אמר ליה ומאי אהנת לי התם רבי קרו לי הכא רבי קרו לי אמר ליה אהנאי לך דאקרבינך תחת כנפי השכינה
חלש דעתיה דרבי יוחנן חלש ריש לקיש אתאי אחתיה קא בכיא אמרה ליה עשה בשביל בני אמר לה (ירמיהו מט, יא) עזבה יתומיך אני אחיה עשה בשביל אלמנותי אמר לה (ירמיהו מט, יא) ואלמנותיך עלי תבטחו
נח נפשיה דר' שמעון בן לקיש והוה קא מצטער ר' יוחנן בתריה טובא אמרו רבנן מאן ליזיל ליתביה לדעתיה ניזיל רבי אלעזר בן פדת דמחדדין שמעתתיה אזל יתיב קמיה כל מילתא דהוה אמר רבי יוחנן אמר ליה תניא דמסייעא לך אמר את כבר לקישא בר לקישא כי הוה אמינא מילתא הוה מקשי לי עשרין וארבע קושייתא ומפריקנא ליה עשרין וארבעה פרוקי וממילא רווחא שמעתא ואת אמרת תניא דמסייע לך אטו לא ידענא דשפיר קאמינא הוה קא אזיל וקרע מאניה וקא בכי ואמר היכא את בר לקישא היכא את בר לקישא והוה קא צוח עד דשף דעתיה [מיניה] בעו רבנן רחמי עליה ונח נפשיה
One day, Rabbi Yoḥanan was bathing in the Jordan. Reish Lakish saw him and jumped into the Jordan, pursuing him. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: Your strength is fit for Torah. Reish Lakish said to him: Your beauty is fit for women. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: If you return to Torah, I will give you my sister, who is more beautiful than I am. Reish Lakish accepted upon himself to study Torah. Reish Lakish wanted to jump back out of the river to bring back his clothes, but he was unable to return, as he had lost his physical strength. Rabbi Yoḥanan taught Reish Lakish Bible, and taught him Mishna, and turned him into a great man. (Reish Lakish became one of the outstanding Torah scholars of his generation) One day the Sages of the study hall were engaging in a dispute about a baraita: With regard to the sword, the knife, the dagger, the spear, a hand sickle, and a harvest sickle, from when are they susceptible to ritual impurity? It is from the time of the completion of their manufacture, (which is the halakha with regard to metal vessels in general). These Sages inquired: And when is the completion of their manufacture? Rabbi Yoḥanan says: It is from when one fires these items in the furnace. Reish Lakish said: It is from when one scours them in water, after the furnace. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: A bandit knows about his banditry. Reish Lakish said to Rabbi Yoḥanan: What benefit did you provide me with Torah? There, they called me: Leader, and here, too, they call me: Leader of the bandits. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: I provided benefit to you, as I brought you close to God, under the wings of the Divine Presence. Rabbi Yoḥanan was offended, which affected Reish Lakish, who fell ill. Rabbi Yoḥanan’s sister came crying to Rabbi Yoḥanan. She said to him: Do this for the sake of my children, so that they should have a father. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to her the verse: “Leave your fatherless children, I will rear them” (Jeremiah 49:11), i.e., I will take care of them. She said to him: Do so for the sake of my widowhood. He said to her the rest of the verse: “And let your widows trust in Me.” Ultimately, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Reish Lakish, died. Rabbi Yoḥanan was sorely pained over losing him. The Rabbis said: Who will go to calm Rabbi Yoḥanan’s mind and comfort him over his loss? They said: Let Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat go, as his statements are sharp, i.e., he is clever and will be able to serve as a substitute for Reish Lakish. Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat went and sat before Rabbi Yoḥanan. With regard to every matter that Rabbi Yoḥanan would say, Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat would say to him: There is a ruling which is taught in a baraita that supports your opinion. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: Are you comparable to the son of Lakish? In my discussions with the son of Lakish, when I would state a matter, he would raise twenty-four difficulties against me in an attempt to disprove my claim, and I would answer him with twenty-four answers, and the halakha by itself would become broadened and clarified. And yet you say to me: There is a ruling which is taught in a baraita that supports your opinion. Do I not know that what I say is good? Being rebutted by Reish Lakish served a purpose; your bringing proof to my statements does not. Rabbi Yoḥanan went around, rending his clothing, weeping and saying: Where are you, son of Lakish? Where are you, son of Lakish? Rabbi Yoḥanan screamed until his mind was taken from him, i.e., he went insane. The Rabbis prayed and requested for God to have mercy on him and take his soul, and Rabbi Yoḥanan died.
Questions
1) Why does Resh Lakish agree to commit himself to Torah? (Does the reason matter?)
2) How is the halakhic discussion a metaphor and a midrash for the whole story?
3) How can we see this as a guiding light for how we should conduct our relationships when disharmony arises?
4) What does this sugya teach about תשובה?
5) Why is it offensive to bring up the past?
אמר רבי אבא אמר שמואל שלש שנים נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל הללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו והללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו יצאה בת קול ואמרה אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים הן והלכה כבית הלל וכי מאחר שאלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים מפני מה זכו בית הלל לקבוע הלכה כמותן מפני שנוחין ועלובין היו ושונין דבריהן ודברי בית שמאי ולא עוד אלא שמקדימין דברי בית שמאי לדבריהן כאותה ששנינו מי שהיה ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית בית שמאי פוסלין ובית הלל מכשירין אמרו בית הלל לבית שמאי לא כך היה מעשה שהלכו זקני בית שמאי וזקני בית הלל לבקר את רבי יוחנן בן החורנית ומצאוהו יושב ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית אמרו להן בית שמאי אי משם ראיה אף הן אמרו לו אם כך היית נוהג לא קיימת מצות סוכה מימיך ללמדך שכל המשפיל עצמו הקדוש ברוך הוא מגביהו וכל המגביה עצמו הקדוש ברוך הוא משפילו כל המחזר על הגדולה גדולה בורחת ממנו וכל הבורח מן הגדולה גדולה מחזרת אחריו וכל הדוחק את השעה שעה דוחקתו וכל הנדחה מפני שעה שעה עומדת לו תנו רבנן שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל הללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא והללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא נמנו וגמרו נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא עכשיו שנברא יפשפש במעשיו ואמרי לה ימשמש במעשיו
Questions
1) Many of us have learned this text before. What is it's message for today?
2) How do we live in a world where multiple truths exist and we can only choose one?
3) Why does the sugya end with a compromise that combines both views?
Questions
1) What does it mean to have minds that are unlike each other?
2) Is it a good practice to keep what is in our minds a secret?
3) What does it mean that all of this comes from a ברכה about God knowing all secrets?
Commentary
Rav Shlomo Eiger (1786-1852) explained that we would never become exasperated or disturbed that someone’s facial features are different than ours. We wouldn’t condemn or criticize someone for having different color eyes or hair than we do. We implicitly recognize that everyone is created differently and it is our differences that weave the wonderful tapestry of our interconnected lives. Similarly, we should recognize that everyone’s opinions are the result of their being created differently and raised differently. Just as someone is entitled to look different, so too are they entitled to think differently and approach things differently without harsh disapproval or condemnation.
Questions
1) Why is it important to relate the beliefs and thoughts of our souls to the physicality of our being?
2) Why is it that today we accept and appreciate all of the physical differences around us but we abhor the philosophical and political ones so much that we cannot talk?
Commentary
R’ Menachem BenZion Zaks (in his commentary on Pirkei Avos) explains that we cannot pray for, nor achieve, peace if we are not willing to step back a little and make room for others and their opinions, their tastes and personalities. After stepping back, we ask “oseh shalom bimromav,” God, please bring peace, and we turn to the right and to the left. Explains R’ Zaks, achieving peace and harmony means bowing towards those on the right of us and those on the left of us, not just straight ahead on our path. Maintaining the capacity and the will to bow towards those on the right and left of us religiously, politically, and in every other way is a prerequisite to the peace we claim we desperately seek and yearn for.
Questions
1) Why after our personal עמידה do we step back from "our space?"
2) Is it possible and /or needed for us to alter our own perspective of the world?
3) What does it mean for us to pray for the peace of all of those who differ from us?
4) What are practical ways, inspired by our tradition, to bridge this divide between all of us?
5) Can we heal the wounds of our society?
6) In order for us to be right does someone always have to be wrong?
Session 2: Swimming Up Stream - Judaism in a non-Jewish environment
Abraham as an Example
(יג) וַיָּמָת הָרָן עַל פְּנֵי תֶּרַח אָבִיו (בראשית יא, כח), רַבִּי חִיָּא בַּר בְּרֵיהּ דְּרַב אַדָא דְּיָפוֹ, תֶּרַח עוֹבֵד צְלָמִים הָיָה, חַד זְמַן נְפֵיק לַאֲתַר, הוֹשִׁיב לְאַבְרָהָם מוֹכֵר תַּחְתָּיו. הֲוָה אָתֵי בַּר אֵינַשׁ בָּעֵי דְּיִזְבַּן, וַהֲוָה אֲמַר לֵהּ בַּר כַּמָּה שְׁנִין אַתְּ, וַהֲוָה אֲמַר לֵיהּ בַּר חַמְשִׁין אוֹ שִׁתִּין, וַהֲוָה אֲמַר לֵיהּ וַי לֵיהּ לְהַהוּא גַבְרָא דַּהֲוָה בַּר שִׁתִּין וּבָעֵי לְמִסְגַּד לְבַר יוֹמֵי, וַהֲוָה מִתְבַּיֵּשׁ וְהוֹלֵךְ לוֹ. חַד זְמַן אֲתָא חַד אִתְּתָא טְעִינָא בִּידָהּ חָדָא פִּינָךְ דְּסֹלֶת, אֲמָרָהּ לֵיהּ הֵא לָךְ קָרֵב קֳדָמֵיהוֹן, קָם נְסֵיב בּוּקְלָסָא בִּידֵיהּ, וְתַבְרִינוּן לְכָלְהוֹן פְּסִילַיָא, וִיהַב בּוּקְלָסָא בִּידָא דְּרַבָּה דַּהֲוָה בֵּינֵיהוֹן. כֵּיוָן דַּאֲתָא אֲבוּהָ אֲמַר לֵיהּ מַאן עָבֵיד לְהוֹן כְּדֵין, אֲמַר לֵיהּ מַה נִּכְפּוּר מִינָךְ אֲתַת חָדָא אִתְּתָא טְעִינָא לָהּ חָדָא פִּינָךְ דְּסֹוֹלֶת, וַאֲמַרַת לִי הֵא לָךְ קָרֵיב קֳדָמֵיהון, קָרֵיבְתְּ לָקֳדָמֵיהוֹן הֲוָה דֵּין אֲמַר אֲנָא אֵיכוֹל קַדְמָאי, וְדֵין אֲמַר אֲנָא אֵיכוֹל קַדְמָאי, קָם הָדֵין רַבָּה דַּהֲוָה בֵּינֵיהוֹן נְסַב בּוּקְלָסָא וְתַבַּרִינוֹן. אֲמַר לֵיהּ מָה אַתָּה מַפְלֶה בִּי, וְיָדְעִין אִינוּן. אֲמַר לֵיהּ וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ אָזְנֶיךָ מַה שֶּׁפִּיךָ אוֹמֵר. נַסְבֵיהּ וּמְסָרֵיהּ לְנִמְרוֹד. אֲמַר לֵיהּ נִסְגוֹד לְנוּרָא, אֲמַר לֵיהּ אַבְרָהָם וְנִסְגּוֹד לְמַיָא דְּמַטְפִין נוּרָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ נִמְרוֹד נִסְגּוֹד לְמַיָא, אֲמַר לֵיהּ אִם כֵּן נִסְגּוֹד לַעֲנָנָא דְּטָעִין מַיָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ נִסְגּוֹד לַעֲנָנָא. אָמַר לֵיהּ אִם כֵּן נִסְגּוֹד לְרוּחָא דִּמְבַדַּר עֲנָנָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ נִסְגּוֹד לְרוּחָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ וְנִסְגּוֹד לְבַר אֵינָשָׁא דְּסָבֵיל רוּחָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ מִלִּין אַתְּ מִשְׁתָּעֵי, אֲנִי אֵינִי מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה אֶלָּא לָאוּר, הֲרֵי אֲנִי מַשְׁלִיכֲךָ בְּתוֹכוֹ, וְיָבוֹא אֱלוֹהַּ שֶׁאַתָּה מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לוֹ וְיַצִּילְךָ הֵימֶנּוּ. הֲוָה תַּמָן הָרָן קָאֵים פְּלוּג, אָמַר מַה נַּפְשָׁךְ אִם נָצַח אַבְרָהָם אֲנָא אָמַר מִן דְּאַבְרָהָם אֲנָא וְאִם נָצַח נִמְרוֹד אֲנָא אֲמַר דְּנִמְרוֹד אֲנָא. כֵּיוָן שֶׁיָּרַד אַבְרָהָם לְכִבְשַׁן הָאֵשׁ וְנִצֹּל, אָמְרִין לֵיהּ דְּמַאן אַתְּ, אֲמַר לְהוֹן מִן אַבְרָהָם אֲנָא, נְטָלוּהוּ וְהִשְּׁלִיכוּהוּ לָאוּר וְנֶחְמְרוּ בְּנֵי מֵעָיו, וְיָצָא וּמֵת עַל פְּנֵי תֶּרַח אָבִיו, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וַיָּמָת הָרָן עַל פְּנֵי תֶּרַח וגו'.
(13) "And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah" (Gen. 11:28). Rabbi Hiyya the grandson of Rabbi Adda of Yaffo [said]: Terah was a worshipper of idols. One time he had to travel to a place, and he left Abraham in charge of his store. When a man would come in to buy [idols], Abraham would ask: How old are you? They would reply: fifty or sixty. Abraham would then respond: Woe to him who is sixty years old and worships something made today - the customer would be embarrassed, and would leave. A woman entered carrying a dish full of flour. She said to him: this is for you, offer it before them. Abraham took a club in his hands and broke all of the idols, and placed the club in the hands of the biggest idol. When his father returned, he asked: who did all of this? Abraham replied: I can't hide it from you - a woman came carrying a dish of flour and told me to offer it before them. I did, and one of them said 'I will eat it first,' and another said 'I will eat it first.' The biggest one rose, took a club, and smashed the rest of them. Terah said: what, do you think you can trick me? They don't have cognition! Abraham said: Do your ears hear what your mouth is saying? Terah took Abraham and passed him off to [King] Nimrod. They said [to the king]: let us worship the fire. Abraham said to them: [rather] let us worship water, for it extinguishes fire. Nimrod agreed: let us worship water. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship the clouds, which provide water. Nimrod agreed: let us worship the clouds. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship the winds that scatter the clouds. Nimrod agreed: let us worship the winds. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship humans who are filled with wind [air]. Nimrod replied: You're just speaking words - I only worship fire. I will throw you into it, and the God you worship can save you from it. Haran was hidden and was of two minds, saying [to himself]: if Abraham is victorious, I will say I am with Abraham, and if Nimrod is victorious, I will say I am with Nimrod. When Abraham was through into the fiery furnace and saved, they asked him [Haran]: who are you with? He replied: I am with Abraham. They took him and threw him into the fire, and his insides burned up and he died before his father Terah, as it says: "And Haran died in the [lit.] on the face of his father Terah" (Gen. 11:28).
Questions
1) What is this story trying to answer?
2) What are reasons that Abram gave for smashing the idols?
3) What idols do we as Jews and as leaders need to help smash?
Noah as an Example
(9) This is the line of Noah.—Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.—
Questions:
1) What other ways can someone be a צדיק other than in their deeds?
2) What types of deeds would you consider to be "righteous?"
(ג) תמים במושכלות: בדורותיוי כפי דורותיו והם היו קצת דורו של מתושלח ושל למך ושלו והדורות שהולידו בני דורו בת''ר שנה:
Questions:
1) What is a "righteous attitude?"
2) Does the time period make the person?
(ד) את האלהים התהלך נח הלך בדרכיו להטיב לזולתו והוכיח בני דורו כדברי רבותינו ז''ל. וכן כתב עליו ברוס הכלדיי:
Questions:
1) How can a righteous person rebuke?
2) How did Noah help others when he only helped himself?
Questions:
1) What are the things you want to be remembered for?
2) What is our society doing that is worth remembering?
Questions:
1) How do we stop ourselves from being led by our secular society?
2) How do we rise about the noise of today?
3) Is it easier or harder to be moral today?
Questions:
1) How do we gain more support from God?
2) Why is the more virtuous, Abraham, not needing God to lead him?
3) What does Judaism tell us about secular vs religious?
(בראשית ו, ט) אלה תולדות נח [נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו] א"ר יוחנן בדורותיו ולא בדורות אחרים וריש לקיש אמר בדורותיו כ"ש בדורות אחרים א"ר חנינא משל דרבי יוחנן למה הדבר דומה לחבית של יין שהיתה מונחת במרתף של חומץ במקומה ריחה נודף שלא במקומה אין ריחה נודף א"ר אושעיא משל דריש לקיש למה הדבר דומה לצלוחית של פלייטון שהיתה מונחת במקום הטנופת במקומה ריחה נודף וכ"ש במקום הבוסם
Questions:
1) How can people be good in one generation and have the same exact values in another one and have it not be special?
2) Why does this question matter?
3) How does this apply to today?
Commentary
These are the generation of Noah... and Noah walked with God...
Why are we Jews not considered to be the descendants of Noah but rather of Abraham, while the rest of the world is referred to in our literature as “the children of Noah”? The explanation is that even though Noah was righteous and perfect in his actions, he was not the ideal of the righteous Jew. Instead, he was the ideal of the righteous gentile. “Noah walked with God,” not with people, not with others - he was not interested in humanity, in the environment. His righteousness was directed inward, to himself and his family. He was what is known in Yiddish as a tzadik in peltz — a “righteous man in a fur coat." He was commanded by God to build an ark- he built it board by board and nail by nail, for a hundred and twenty consecutive years, and it never crossed his mind that there might be a way to avert God’s decree and to save the world from destruction.
Abraham was different, as we are told by our Sages, “Abraham converted the men and Sarah the women.” Abraham taught the world proper behavior and knowledge of God. When God wished to overturn Sodom, Abraham did all in his power to save those wicked people. - ALSHEKH
Moses as an Example
Questions:
1) How do we read this story? What was Moses trying to do?
2) Why does he bury him?
3) Why does he suddenly act out?
וירא כי אין איש AND HE SAW THAT THERE WAS NO MAN destined to issue from him, who would become an adherent of Israel’s religion (Exodus Rabbah 1:29; cf. Targum Jonathan on Exodus 2:12) .
Questions:
1) So what was the reason he was willing to kill him?
2) Is this now more pre-meditated?
3) What does this say about משה's character?
Questions:
1) The story about what he saw the taskmaster doing to the Israelite is what is being referred to here, does this make משה more of a hero?
2) When is it okay to act out and take justice into our hands?
Questions:
1) What was משה looking for in the story if read with this משנה?
2) In our own day and age how do we behave in such a fashion?
3) Is it possible that there is more that we can do?
THE BLOG
Reality TV — Rewarding Bad Behavior
07/16/2013 04:40 pm ET | Updated Sep 15, 2013
Tom Green Comedian, actor and host
It used to be if you were 16 and pregnant you would get in trouble. Now you get a reality show. You get arrested on TV after a drunken binge and become an instant millionaire. Compromise your morals and make a sex tape and it may get you enough attention to land a lucrative fragrance deal. What kind of message does this send to young people? Why is it that television networks today feel the need to reward bad behavior? The simple answer is increased competition for ratings and money. But celebrating stupidity by mainstream media is not morally justified.
Now hold on a second here? I know some people may think that I, Tom Green, should be the last guy to write a diatribe against reality TV. Isn’t Tom Green the guy who humped a dead moose? Isn’t he the guy who painted pornography on his parent’s car? Yes, I worked hard to put together an experimental show on a budget of zero. But I was not being exploited by anyone. I was in charge.
It wasn’t that long ago that there were only three television networks, no cable TV, and no Internet. There was simply no need to go negative. But now with the media being fragmented into an infinite number of outlets, competition for eyeballs is fierce. And the easiest way to win the competition for eyeballs in the digital age is to broadcast bad behavior. People like watching train wrecks.
Things were better before. In 1980s I discovered Late Night with David Letterman. It was on one of the 13 cable TV channels. They didn’t have 25 late night talk show hosts trying to be the most outrageous. There was the likeable television genius Johnny Carson, and his mad genius counterpart Dave. There was nothing else crazy on TV every night and there was no Internet. The only place you could see electronic images on a screen were on the few TV channels and at the movie theater.
Also in the 1980s the VCR was born. Now we could rent movies at the video store and watch them at home. This was exciting and new to be able to watch feature films at home whenever we chose. At first we would watch mainstream blockbusters. But every once in a while somebody would show up with a VHS tape of something really crazy. There was this one video series that started getting passed around at school called Faces Of Death. This was mostly found footage of real deaths that had been collected over the years. It was mostly shot on really bad 16 mm film, which in a way made it a lot creepier. People getting attacked and killed by bears, parachutes that didn’t open, alligator attacks, people getting shot in the head, assassinations, and more. These tapes started getting passed around in the seventh grade. All the kids were talking about Faces Of Death, although we were the last family on my block to get a VCR so I had to wait another year before I got to see.
We were fascinated by Faces Of Death because we wanted to see real ****. Finally this was some real **** that wasn’t edited and manipulated by the censors. Before the VCR we had been unable to see this kind of honesty on our TV screen. We laughed when we watched TV shows like MASH and Who’s the Boss, but we knew they weren’t real. We wanted to see something real that gave us some insight and truth about being human.
And then technology continued to change. Cameras got smaller and more affordable. Normal people could now afford to make videos. And more and more outrageous things began to appear. Real people started filming real things. Some people, like me, started filming really crazy and ridiculous things. Eventually the television networks got the drift. After my show and others like it began airing on TV, network executives started to see that there was a market for outrageous over the top content. And this is when things started to slide.
Suddenly there was a demand for more raw and outrageous material. Reality TV had started with shows like The Real World. But it became less about documenting the mundane lives of real people, and more about seeing how many train wrecks could fit into one room. And millions of people began to watch. The network executives who are looking for the next big hit became addicted to the attention. And the content of television continued to spiral downward. The audience became addicted to the cheap thrills. Why?
We don’t have as many heroes anymore. They have been overwhelmed by the onslaught of train wrecks we allow into our brains. The days of looking up to inventors, artists, and genuinely successful people are gone, perhaps because they are not celebrated as widely. Society is only partly at fault. Yes, people are more interested in negative information and bad behavior. Seeing losers on TV gives us hope. Seeing a brilliant doctor change the world by curing some disease just isn’t sexy. But watch some moron ruin their reputation and we can all rest easy that we would never be so foolish. We have become addicted to this kind of TV not only because it can be entertaining, but also it makes us feel better about ourselves.
Reality TV generally has to go negative in order for it to be interesting. Lets take a look at something like a traditional scripted cop show. Usually what happens is there is a moral compass to the program, the bad guy gets arrested at the end and goes to jail and we all learn that being a criminal is wrong. On reality TV, the star of the show gets more airtime the worse they behave. And we learn that if you act out you get endorsement deals. Today the heroes go to jail and we celebrate them for it.
Yes, the corporate executives who decide what goes on TV are meeting a demand. They feed the public what they want to see in an attempt to get ratings and money. But it is unfair to place sole blame on the public for our decaying culture. Not everyone in the audience is enlightened enough to process that these reality shows and their stars are just mindless entertainment. A lot of people look up to these stars and replicate their bad behavior.
It’s not necessarily the media’s job to shape the minds and educate the public at large. But the fact is that they do just that. Most people do not analyze why they watch what they watch. They assume the behavior they see on TV is acceptable simply because it is on TV in the first place. This is why the media, like government, does bear some responsibility. Our media is shaping culture and training the audience to no longer demand quality programming. There are so many channels now and such competition for ratings that it becomes a vicious cycle. Greed overwhelms morality. Morality doesn’t keep anyone in business. Only ratings do that.
Back in the ‘60s when the networks had a strangle hold on the publics viewing habits they could report whatever they chose. They would actually avoid reporting on salacious things, like a president having an affair. They knowingly chose to not mention on air the fact that Kennedy was widely considered to be a philanderer. He and his brother were both allegedly having an affair with Marilyn Monroe, the biggest movie star in the world. And they decided not to report it. At the time, reporting on something as personal as this actually may have hurt the ratings of any network that chose to do so. There were just certain things that people didn’t talk about back then. Besides, was Kennedy really doing anything wrong that the public needed to know about? Cheating was taboo and ethically the media didn’t feel it was their place to talk about the sex life of the president. As long as he was doing his job then why get into his private life?
This was a choice they could afford to make in a three-channel television universe.
I see clearly how things have changed because I was there at the beginning, when things started to unravel. In 1994, as a television-broadcasting student in college, I painted pornography on my parent’s car and called it The Slut-mobile. I filmed their shocked reactions and put the video on public access TV in Canada. People watching could not believe their eyes, and actually had a hard time comprehending what they were looking at. Around my hometown people would stop me on the street, baffled and incredulous, and ask me if those were my real parents. Nobody had ever seen an actual family have a real argument on TV before, so they often couldn’t believe their eyes. I continued to do these kinds of outrageous things for years. Eventually my little homemade show attracted enough attention to actually get picked up by MTV in 1999. This major corporation moved me to New York, and then Los Angeles and my life forever changed.
When I got the gig with MTV, I spent the better part of my time trying to trick the network into putting my more outrageous antics on air. It was an uphill battle because traditional television hadn’t been this raw. It was my youthful desire to push the envelope and manipulate the system. We wanted to change television, not be a part of it. And much to everyone’s amazement, the public responded, millions of people watched and the show was a big hit.
After I battled Cancer and survived in the year 2000, I quit my show on MTV. But technology and television continued to evolve. Cameras became smaller and had higher quality. People became even more accustomed to seeing outrageous behavior on TV. The Internet sped up and began to broadcast video. And there was such desperation for ratings that what happened next was amazing.
Those corporate executives that ran television began to mass-produce reality shock TV. But unlike me they were not naïve young pranksters, living in their parent’s basements, raging against the system. They were the system. And their ability to permeate our entire society with bad behavior made outrageousness the norm. This was not in the same spirit as my show.
Changing the way reality TV is produced for the greater good is not censorship. The networks should self regulate by putting power back into the hands of artists and comedians. My show on MTV was not reality TV. I was not some kid that they put cameras on and manipulated. I had been producing my show for years in Canada, and in fact most of what we shot re-aired on MTV virtually unedited. It was a sketch comedy show that used new technology to take the comedy to the streets. It was planned out and orchestrated by me to get a reaction from other people. If I chose to make myself look foolish, which I did regularly, this was a calculated choice made by me. Frankly MTV didn’t even understand what my show was until after it was a massive hit. Only then did networks begin to regurgitate these shock tactics in reality TV on a massive scale. The networks missed the point. Sure, I was making fun of myself and yes I was pranking others. But the one thing we were making fun of the most, was television itself.
I have been able to live my dream. I now tour the world as a stand up comedian and have been lucky to enjoy the perks of mainstream recognition. Surprising that so much can come from humping a dead moose. But what surprised me most after my show debuted in 1999 was not how I changed, but how the media changed. I had always presumed that the major corporations that ruled our media were far more responsible than I. Apparently, I was wrong.
Follow Tom Green on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@tomgreenlive
Questions:
1) Who is responsible?
2) How do we as Jews fight for morality?
3) How do we swim upstream against all that secular life is throwing at us at all levels?
The Cookie Jar
Jack Johnson
And I would turn on the TV
But it's so embarrassing
To see all the other people
I don't know what they mean
And it was magic at first
When they spoke without sound
But now this world is gonna hurt
You better turn that thing down
Turn it around
Well, it wasn't me, says the boy with the gun,
Sure, I pulled the trigger but it needed to be done,
Because life's been killing me ever since it begun
You can't blame me because I'm to young
You can't blame me, sure the killer was my son
But I didn't teach him to pull the trigger of the gun
It's the killin' on his TV screen,
You can't blame me it's those images he's seen
Well, you can't blame me, says the media man
I wasn't the one who came up with the plan
But I just point my camera at what the people wanna see,
Now it's a two-way mirror, and you can't blame me
You can't blame me, says the singer of the song
And the maker of the movie which he based his life on
It's only entertainment as anyone can see
It's smoke machines and makeup, man you can't fool me
It was you, it was me, it was every man,
We've all got the blood on our hands
We only receive what we demand,
If we want hell, then hell's what we'll have
And I would turn on the TV
But it's so embarrassing
To see all the other people
I don't know what they mean
And it was magic at first
But let everyone down
But now this world is gonna hurt
You better turn it around
Turn it around