How a sitcom triggered the end of civilization

[sparrowsong]

Since I think there was a consensus that Ross Gellar was the worst... I thought you guys would enjoy.

medium.com/@thatdavidhopkins/how-a-tv-sitcom-triggered-the-downfall-of-western-civilization-336e8ccf7dd0#.rah4kceey

I want to discuss a popular TV show my wife and I have been binge-watching on Netflix. It’s the story of a family man, a man of science, a genius who fell in with the wrong crowd. He slowly descends into madness and desperation, lead by his own egotism. With one mishap after another, he becomes a monster. I’m talking, of course, about Friends and its tragic hero, Ross Geller.

You may see it as a comedy, but I cannot laugh with you. To me, Friends signals a harsh embrace of anti-intellectualism in America, where a gifted and intelligent man is persecuted by his idiot compatriots. And even if you see it from my point of view, it doesn’t matter. The constant barrage of laughter from the live studio audience will remind us that our own reactions are unnecessary, redundant.


The theme song itself is filled with foreboding, telling us that life is inherently deceptive, career pursuits are laughable, poverty is right around the corner, and oh yeah, your love life’s D.O.A. But you will always have the company of idiots. They will be there for you.
Don’t I feel better?

Maybe I should unpack this, for the uninitiated. If you remember the 1990s and early 2000s, and you lived near a television set, then you remember Friends. Friends was the Thursday night primetime, “must-see-TV” event that featured the most likable ensemble ever assembled by a casting agent: all young, all middle class, all white, all straight, all attractive (but approachable), all morally and politically bland, and all equipped with easily digestible personas. Joey is the goofball. Chandler is the sarcastic one. Monica is obsessive-compulsive. Phoebe is the hippy. Rachel, hell, I don’t know, Rachel likes to shop. Then there was Ross. Ross was the intellectual and the romantic.

Eventually, the Friends audience — roughly 52.5 million people — turned on Ross. But the characters of the show were pitted against him from the beginning (consider episode 1, when Joey says of Ross: “This guy says hello, I wanna kill myself.”) In fact, any time Ross would say anything about his interests, his studies, his ideas, whenever he was mid-sentence, one of his “friends” was sure to groan and say how boring Ross was, how stupid it is to be smart, and that nobody cares. Cue the laughter of the live studio audience. This gag went on, pretty much every episode, for 10 seasons. Can you blame Ross for going crazy?

And like a Greek tragedy, our hero is caught in a prophecy that cannot be avoided. The show’s producers, akin to the immutable voice of the gods, declared that Ross must end up with Rachel, the one who shops. Honestly, I think he could’ve done better.
Why such sympathy for Ross?

The show ended in 2004. The same year that Facebook began, the year that George W. Bush was re-elected to a second term, the year that reality television became a dominant force in pop culture, with American Idol starting an eight-year reign of terror as the No. 1 show in the U.S., the same year that Paris Hilton started her own “lifestyle brand” and released an autobiography. And Joey Tribbiani got a spin-off TV show. The year 2004 was when we completely gave up and embraced stupidity as a value. Just ask Green Day; their album American Idiot was released in 2004, and it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. You can’t get more timely. The rejection of Ross marked the moment when much of America groaned, mid-sentence, at the voice of reason.

Yes, my theory is that Friends may have triggered the downfall of western civilization. You might think I’m crazy. But to quote Ross: “Oh, am I? Am I? Am I out of my mind? Am I losing my senses?” Did you know the song that originally accompanied the Friends pilot episode was R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know (And I Feel Fine).” A blissful song with an apocalyptic message that goes largely ignored.

I was a teacher in 2004. I coached our school’s chess club. I saw how my students were picked on, bullied. I tried my best to defend them, but I couldn’t be everywhere. My students were smart, huge nerds, and they were in hostile, unfriendly territory. Other students would be waiting outside my room to ambush the chess club members who met in my room every day at lunch. During my tenure as a teacher, I gained the reputation of being a slayer of bullies and defender of nerds. I promise you: bullies can be mean, but they knew Mr. Hopkins was much worse.

Maybe intellectuals have always been persecuted and shoved in lockers, but something in my gut tells me we’re at a low point — where social media interaction has replaced genuine debate and political discourse, where politicians are judged by whether we’d want to have a beer with them, where scientific consensus is rejected, where scientific research is underfunded, where journalism is drowning in celebrity gossip.
I see Kim Kardashian’s ass at the top of CNN.com, and I am scared.

Maybe it’s all harmless fun. Like the good-spirited laughter of a live studio audience? Maybe. But I am sincerely worried we have not done enough to cultivate intellectual curiosity within our culture.

Fortunately, there’s a resistance forming. People with grit, who aren’t afraid to begin a sentence with “Did you know…” These are the Rosses of the world. I saw them in my chess club. And I see them in my city, hiding at the art museum, crouching at used book stores, exchanging sideways glances at the public libraries and coffee houses, and sneaking around at our schools, community colleges, and universities.

There was no hope for Ross. He went insane, and yeah, he did get annoying.

So, how do we retain our sanity in a dumb, dumb world? I wouldn’t be a good teacher if I didn’t come prepared with a few ideas.
No. 1: read a fucking book. Something special happens when you set aside the inane distractions of modern culture and immerse yourself in a novel. You open yourself up to new ideas, new experiences, new perspectives. It’s an experiment in patience and mindfulness. The New School for Social Research in New York proved that reading literature improves empathy. It’s true. Reading makes you less of a jerk. So, read often. Read difficult books. Read controversial books. Read a book that makes you cry. Read something fun. But read.

No. 2: learn something. Your brain is capable of so much. Feed it. Learn something new. The greatest threat to progress is the belief that something is too complex to fix. Poverty is permanent. Racism will always exist. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is too difficult to understand. The public education system is broken. Educate yourself, so you can be part of the conversation. Learn something scientific, something mathematic. Explore philosophy. Study paleontology. Try to learn a new language. You don’t even have to make fluency your goal, just get a few more words in your head. Listen to an educational podcast. Professors from colleges — such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford — are offering their lectures online for free. Think of what you could learn. One of my greatest challenges as a teacher was convincing students they were smart after someone had told them they were dumb.

No. 3: stop buying so much shit. This may seem like a non sequitur, but I’m convinced consumer culture and idiot culture are closely linked. Simplify your life. Idiocy dominates our cultural landscape because it sells more Nike tennis shoes and Big Macs. When we thoughtfully consider what we bring into our home, we are less likely to be manipulated by empty impulses.

And finally: protect the nerds. A computer programmer from Seattle is doing more to alleviate world poverty, hunger, and disease through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation than any other person in America right now. Nerds create vaccines. Nerds engineer bridges and roadways. Nerds become teachers and librarians. We need those obnoxiously smart people, because they make the world a better place. We can’t have them cowering before a society that rolls their eyes at every word they say. Ross needs better friends.

[sparrowsong]

Ugh. I can break into paragraphs in a couple hours when I get home. Too hard from my phone.

[heyjude]

GTFO. I love Ross. And Friends. I can't even read this.

[fumbalina]

I feel like the author of this piece must have grown up in a very protected environment. I was in advanced classes and even with that, students who caught on quickly were teased. I know in the regular classes that teasing sometimes turned into bullying. Since I graduated from high school in 1995, I do not think Friends changed things. My father used to get teased about intelligence as well in the 50s, so it was certainly not a new experience.

In addition to that I can not think of a single show that did not indicate the smart character was anything other than annoying. On Cheers, Frasier was an annoying jerk. I can't recall any other intelligent characters at the moment, but shows follow the "cool kids" not the smart ones.

[kadams767]

This seems like a stretch.

I am reasonably intelligent, I read a lot and always have, I speak a second language and I have nerdy hobbies. But you know what I'm doing right now? Eating nachos for dinner and watching Friends reruns. Because even if I'm smart, nachos are delicious and Friends is still hilarious to me.

[heyjude]

Now that I just read this, could I BE anymore annoyed?!

[elleblue]

Mar 25, 2016 18:35:02 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Now that I just read this, could I BE anymore annoyed?!

If it was written by Bernie you would be.

[elleblue]

Mar 25, 2016 18:45:39 GMT -5 Dig Ophelia said:

So I haven't read the entire article, because it's annoying.

Like this:

Maybe I should unpack this, for the uninitiated.

Where did this phrase come from?  I see it a lot now and I don't like it and I hate reading it.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

[underwaterrhymes]

LOL.

Over invested much?

I wonder what his feelings on Xander and Willow never getting together are.

[wambam]

I've never heard unpacking outside of church. Huh.

[MarmeeNoir]

This guy is ridiculous, it's not that serious.

I do not like Friends, so I'm not all invested. Except I wish everyone would let it go.

[lilibet]

This is so dumb. And I say this a very nerdy person.

Also, the Joey reference in episode 1? Ross comes in and says hello totally monotone and depressing. It's not like he came in and said it in his normal voice.

[elleblue]

Mar 25, 2016 18:58:37 GMT -5 Dig Ophelia said:

Mar 25, 2016 18:50:34 GMT -5 elleblue said:

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Thanks, That was great.  I bookmarked it so I can re-read it later and because I feel like I'm going to need to send this to some people.  

"Unpacking" a topic just sounds like one of those annoying corporate phrases though.  lol   Ugh.  

It does kind of sound like corporate speak - "unpacking privilege is in my wheelhouse", lol.

[KateAggie]

The smart guy gets the girl everyone loves. So his very premise is fucked.

[aurora]

It's possible to be smart and to get a PhD in science without being annoying like Ross. And also they are truly a solid group of friends.

[ttt]

Mar 25, 2016 18:35:02 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Now that I just read this, could I BE anymore annoyed?!

LOL I love you. 

I couldn't get through it, but Friends ended in 2004? I didn't realize it was that late. Maybe because I stopped watching it when I graduated high school in 1999? The end of Seinfeld felt like a big deal to me (talk about a show that does not hold up to my memories of it) but I don't even remember the end of Friends, even though it was The Show Everyone Watched And Talked About in high school. 

[ringstrue]

Gawd people cannot STFU about this series since they brought it back on Netflix.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 25, 2016 18:52:39 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

LOL.

Over invested much?

I wonder what his feelings on Xander and Willow never getting together are.

Unnecessary! Anya was perfect for him.

[bimbi284]

Am I the only one who read this as being a joke?

[cville]

Mar 25, 2016 21:54:06 GMT -5 bimbi284 said:

Am I the only one who read this as being a joke?

I thought so too, but by the end it read like that awkward, overeager dude in your American history class who starts out joking about which founding father could win in a cage match and then starts to get REALLY PISSED that no one will admit that with his low center of gravity and cold calculation, James Madison really could've taken them all IF ONLY YOU ASSHOLES WOULD THINK ABOUT IT.

So, not actually a joke.

[bimbi284]

Mar 25, 2016 22:00:00 GMT -5 cville said:

Mar 25, 2016 21:54:06 GMT -5 bimbi284 said:

Am I the only one who read this as being a joke?

I thought so too, but by the end it read like that awkward, overeager dude in your American history class who starts out joking about which founding father could win in a cage match and then starts to get REALLY PISSED that no one will admit that with his low center of gravity and cold calculation, James Madison really could've taken them all IF ONLY YOU ASSHOLES WOULD THINK ABOUT IT.

So, not actually a joke.

To be fair, I only read the first few paragraphs cuz TL;DR

[pinkeggs]

[taratru]

Mar 25, 2016 22:00:00 GMT -5 cville said:

Mar 25, 2016 21:54:06 GMT -5 bimbi284 said:

Am I the only one who read this as being a joke?

I thought so too, but by the end it read like that awkward, overeager dude in your American history class who starts out joking about which founding father could win in a cage match and then starts to get REALLY PISSED that no one will admit that with his low center of gravity and cold calculation, James Madison really could've taken them all IF ONLY YOU ASSHOLES WOULD THINK ABOUT IT.

So, not actually a joke.

Literally, this is the best thing I've seen on the Internet in weeks. Thankyouverymuch.

[josieposy]

Why do I keep thinking of Good Will Hunting?

[imobviouslystaying]

Two words:

White Privilege

Old dude is mad that the whitest character on this show (which is saying a whole lot) doesn't live happily ever after simply by virtue of his education and smarmy nice guy-ness.

Oh

[asdfjkl]

I don't think American Anti-intellectualism has anything to do with Friends.  I was in a elementary school G&T program in the mid-80s and it was fucking brutal.  A group of kids in my class stole my shoes and played soccer with them at recess.  I was 10.  And speaking of the mid-80s, has this person never seen a John Hughes movie.  While Hughes is super-sympathetic to the nerds, as a reflection of culture it shows that intellectualism was... frowned upon in the mid-80s.  Intellectualism has always had a rough road (cough*Galileo*cough*Socrates*cough*Luther*cough*ThomasMore*cough).

I also think this article confuses Intellectualism with Intelligence.  There's no question, people are getting dumber.  And that's the real problem right now, IMO.  The criticism of the intellectual elite as being out of touch, removed from "real people" has existed forever.  The conversation about how it's really not all the necessary to actually be smart, and that being smart is in some way shameful, is relatively new it seems.  Though I wouldn't place that at around the time of Friends.  I'm not sure when it started.  Probably at the same time evangelical christianity became "mainstream."  

[sushi]

Mar 25, 2016 18:20:51 GMT -5 fumbalina said:

I feel like the author of this piece must have grown up in a very protected environment. I was in advanced classes and even with that, students who caught on quickly were teased. I know in the regular classes that teasing sometimes turned into bullying. Since I graduated from high school in 1995, I do not think Friends changed things. My father used to get teased about intelligence as well in the 50s, so it was certainly not a new experience.

Susan Jacoby wrote a book called the Age of American Unreason, and she makes the argument that anti-intellectualism really began to take hold beginning in the 50s and has progressed, in waves, since then.

I never liked friends. Never thought it was funny. So, I'm definitely not the target audience for this opinion piece.

I also think it's not surprising that people on this board would identify with and appreciate the so called nerdy smart guy. AP of that place, yo.

[nikki25]

The amount of time he spent dissecting a fictional-comedy show claiming that a super smart character is dumbing-down society, while he is simultaneously dumbing-down himself by dissecting a show he fucking loathes is quite comical in its owm right.

Dude, stop watching friends and go for a walk. Or write a thesis or crochet or something, lol.