What an 80s TV Detective Reveals About America Now
The Polar Vortex has our temperatures in the low teens. Night cold makes the day temperatures feel mild. To walk the dog, I strap cleats to my shoes.
In Michigan, we tend to stay inside when temperatures are so raw. You literally feel the cold in your bones, especially your joints.
This weekend I was staying warm with a fire and found a “Murder, She Wrote” marathon on cable. It was a popular weekly show starring Dame Angela Lansbury that aired on TV back in the 1980s. Angela was a renowned actress, born the same year as my mom.
Back then, fresh out of college, I lived with a diverse group in San Francisco. We watched the show every Wednesday. We would mock the plot as Jessica Fletcher solved the crime in precisely 60 minutes of the hour show.
I loved my ad hoc engagement with the story line. I could skip a week or two and still follow along, each episode was self-contained in the show’s hour.
It was an equal opportunity storyline. Just as many women committed murder as men. Financial gain was the predominant motive, a factor that continues to ring true.
The algorithm the writers used would not work on television today. Audience attention span is shorter. Jessica strolls through the events, an older, single woman, wise and wary, with a sense of morality and justice. It is character driven as opposed to action driven.
In the show, there is no gore, sex, profanity, or high stakes drama that are now common on TV.
As I sat through episode after episode, amused by the hideous fashion that was the 80’s, the one constant I recognized was the character’s, Jessica Fletcher, likability.
Mrs. Fletcher consistently shows kindness. She diligently investigates each case to establish her clients' innocence. It ultimately leads to the perpetrator's confession at the conclusion of every episode, their culpability revealed. It ends on a high note, with Jessica restoring order and justice prevails.
Today, gritty realistic depictions have replaced the efficient and quiet heroism of characters like Jessica Fletcher.
Have we become desensitized by the screaming, crying, and tantrums that reflect today’s prevalent human behavior?
Bullying is so rampant we have a name for it, Being a Karen. Entitlement and arrogance are not owned by any single age or generation.
Karen’s male version is David or Donald. They intentionally wage war against being reasonable and understanding.
In the current social climate, Angela’s character would be harshly criticized. She would be labelled as a “fool”. Kindness no longer seems relevant.
This country’s current regime reinforces and rewards the Karen and David style behavior.
Citizens are being unlawfully detained, a 6-month-old tear gassed, and a 30-something murdered-without any repercussions to the perpetrators.
This decline did not happen overnight. America has slowly become immune to ongoing outrageousness and lawlessness.
What I resent the most is the lack of accountability for the regime and its actions.
Every violent act is presented to us as justifiable action. No one in power is ever held responsible. Blame is assigned to the citizens and the opposition.
Safe in my home, warmed by the fire, I thought Jessica Fletcher would be cringing at what is happening today. She resolved every crime with intellect, charm and a bit of wit.
She showed us the value of justice.
Order was restored at the end of every show. As I watched the reruns it occurred to me:
Without impartial justice, there will be only anarchy and corruption.
We the People, deserve better.
My new year resolution is to exercise patience and kindness. It may sound like a drop in the ocean, but I cannot sit on my hands. I hope I can keep my resolution and spread goodwill…even if it kills me. Wish me luck.
Thank you, Joe V., for tightening this up.
— Sally
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