Reply to C.

Oh, come on C. If you don't think it is morbid then you just aren't paying enough attention. And as for Q, it is not awkwardly Hip, Gomeshi just thinks he is hip when he isn't. The entire paradigm of art and philosophy has shifted and Gomeshi and his cohorts are stuck in the past. Canada reads for example is like people getting together 50 years after Gutenberg started the printing-press revolution and talking about what were the year's best illuminated manuscripts. There has been a fundamental paradigm change in western civilization which started sometime around the beginning of the Victorian Era and its implications are just now becoming clear. The entire notion of art in all its forms grew into crisis because of the decline in religion was not met with any equivalent project which could define the purpose of aesthetic expression. The Romantics seemed to point to a way out but with the industrial revolution this got lost. Some Victorian authors used social activism in art as a kind of guiding light but this could not sustain the aesthetic project for very long because Capitalism effectively turns everything into a spectacle. Anyway, we are now on ground which is shifting so fast and unevenly that it many people are holding on to aesthetic paradigms which were vital a hundred years ago, as though to be comforted in their traditions. But these will not protect them and Q will only be a comfort for so long.

The Morbid CBC.

Ok, it must be said. Another important critique of CBC radio. I already took the cathartic step of saying how pathetic I thought the continual barrage of “Canada reads” was. But more needs to be said. Now I appreciate the importance of a public broadcaster as much as anyone. Such institutions play a vital role in the public discourse and help to maintain a small degree of balance in the media. However, as important as this issue is, CBC radio is slowly deteriorating to the point where it is really becoming something of a joke. Besides the decreasing amount  of real news that you actually get on CBC radio (with the notable exception Dispatches by Rick Macinnis Rae), and the sickeningly ‘hip’ Jian Gomeshi, the worst thing is that I am increasingly under the impression that CBC radio is being programmed by a sadist, a masochist, or both. Has anyone else noticed this? Hour after hour of CBC radio is taking up by a morbid amount of long depressing, horrifying, unbelievably negative stories. Just yesterday on ‘Out Front’ they tried what they called an ‘experiment’ in story-telling which consisted of listeners’ stories of how they “chipped, lost, or otherwise damaged their teeth.” So we just heard stories of childhood accidents of people knocking their teeth out on bicycles or chipping their teeth on beer bottles! This is Radio!? And then at the end of the episode they promoted an upcoming special on the best stories of ‘revenge’ that listeners call in! And it just goes on like this day after day and month after month. I have taken to playing a little game. Try turning on the CBC radio and keeping a note of the first complete sentence you hear. I have taken to writing these down and have such gems as “His death was slow and painful,” “She lost her entire family,” and “Aids continues to kill.”

I believe that this morbid tendency derives from the widespread belief that seriousness equals quality. This is a commonly held notion by most people in the arts and media. When was the last time a comedy one the Oscar for best picture? It very seldom happens because the majority of people believe that a story, a novel, a film, or any other kind of media entertainment must be extremely serious, even morbidly so, to be considered important or valuable. Of course, comedy and amusement has its place, but that place in on the margins of real artistic achievement. Instead, a serious, morbid story doesn’t need to reflect any real artistic quality; as though its morbidity is itself a sign of quality.