US Leaders: Keep the drama on the stage

 culture  No Responses »
Jul 272011
 

As a working theatre maker and a teacher of theatre, I’m really tired of people trying to do my job.  The Great Debt Debate is just one more moment in recent American political history where our national leaders are working harder to make this situation dramatic than they’re working to solve the problem.

I teach an introductory theatre course for non-majors at NYU, and in one of the first classes, I define theatre as any live event where A performs B for C.  My graduate professor Harley Erdman used this definition, and he attributed it to Eric Bentley.  Theatre plays out on a daily basis right in front of us if we use this definition.  Endless possibilities emerge, and my students and I often discuss how political rallies and speeches can qualify as theatre under this definition.  I blogged a bit about this before when Obama spoke so eloquently and thoughtfully following the tragedy in Tucson earlier this year.

At this point though, using theatre to think through what’s happening with this debt debate feels really irritating.  I love good theatre, but I don’t like theatre when it’s happening in a situation where it doesn’t belong.  The over-the-top performances that are happening around Washington are embarrassing and wasteful.   The energy that politicians expend thinking about how to up end one another in public appearances and statements released to the media could be energy used to actually solve this problem.  A friend of mine said that he thinks that Boehner and Obama had this whole thing solved back when they played golf together, and I wouldn’t be surprised.  Our national leaders seem to be engaged in the same dramatics as the New York State legislature when they finally voted on marriage equality last month.  The urge to draw all of this out and make it dramatic is not working for the American public.

I wonder what it used to be like when leaders could work without the onslaught of 24-hour news outlets constantly asking them for statements and questions.  I think the media complicates all of this.  I’d venture to say that democracy works the best when the public has less information.  I know that sounds crazy, but we don’t trust our elected officials because we know every move they make, personally and professionally.  We judge, we critique, and we contribute to the dramatics.  Maybe if we stopped feeding the media hype beast, the drama off the stage would die down, and these elected officials could fully focus on their jobs rather than the immediate ramifications of their salad choice at the cafeteria to their approval ratings. Not to mention making clear, thoughtful decisions that could save the country’s financial situation now and in the future.

Let the theatre people make the drama, friends.  Stay off the media stage and do your job.

Our national leaders need to join Wipers Anonymous.

 culture  No Responses »
Jul 232011
 

So once again the talks surrounding the US fiscal crisis broke down last evening with Obama and Boehner hurling strong phraseology at each other, placing blame, and spinning their wheels.  Media outlets are reporting that the “silent majority” is dissatisfied with the job that our national leaders are doing.  One poll reported 80% of Americans feel this dissatisfaction.  We’re not talking about party lines here.  We’re talking about people feeling like their elected officials don’t deserve to get re-elected.

This debt ceiling-debt reduction thing has gone on entirely too long.  Our “leaders” are digging in their heels, in the name of protecting the American public’s interests, when in fact, I think that most of them are more worried about getting re-elected so they can continue to be “in power.”  Some of this is supposedly democracy at work.  I’m at the point now where I’m losing faith in democracy.

I think that most of these leaders are card carrying members of something I call Wipers Anonymous, or WA for short.  You know that expression, “Shit or get off the pot”?  Well, our leaders are doing neither of those things.  They seem to be paralyzed and wiping continuously. Digging for the proverbial gold, one might say.  Posturing, blaming, criticizing, all with their pants and skirts around their ankles and mummified in Charmin.  God only knows how much TP they’ve gone through on Capitol Hill.  And I think that Obama must have a trail of it following him through the White House, and it’s not just stuck on the bottom of his shoe.

I’m not going to pretend that I understand all of the dynamics of our national debt.  Nor am I going to suggest a solution.  But that’s not my job.  We’ve elected these people to lead the country, and they’re doing a shite job of it.  Both parties have lots of answering to do, and while Obama seems to be trying valiantly to lower the debt and not default, clearly something is keeping him and our congressional leaders from getting on the same page.

Maybe the Gang of Six will come through.  Maybe someone can Roto-Rooter a way through all of the TP stuck in the drains from all of the wiping, and finally something will get done.

Stop wiping, people!  Membership to Wipers Anonymous is officially closed.