Getting political - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Not so long ago - I was working this job at the time - it felt like the world of politics was a lot smaller and that we, regardless of political stripe, were closer to being on the same page than we might admit. Sure, we had our differences, but, at the end of the day, we had largely similar goals. We’d argue about spending versus saving, debate the merits of funding social programs and the arts and, on a more serious topic, lock horns over abortion if the conversation got really serious.

 

And yet, when the dust settled, while we might have been horses of a different colour, we could all count ourselves among the equine. Things seem much different now.

 

We can argue all day about which side, if any, has turned this into reality and why, but I don’t want to focus on how diametrically opposed folks on the left are from those on the right these days. We know about it and we hear it all the time. This week, I was more thinking about what it means when people insist on not bringing politics into everything.

 

This was a talking point with the most recent season of The Pitt, the hit HBO show set in a Pittsburgh emergency room. It got “political” in the eyes of some. The two instances I can think of - aside from the standard griping about representation, which is asinine when looking at a workplace in a major American city centre - were when ICE agents brought in a woman they’d captured and a discussion about the current state of the Department of Health and Human Services under RFK Jr. when a woman is hospitalized with liver failure after treating herself with excess quantities of turmeric. 

 

We say this all the time in reference to the Blyth Festival and even, to a certain extent, here with The Citizen. Furthermore, there have been a few thinkpieces written about this, but The Pitt, the Blyth Festival, The Citizen, etc., work to hold a mirror up to the audience, presenting a real-time narrative of life for its audience members, whether it’s the people of the U.S. or Huron County. If you don’t like what you see, perhaps that’s more of a problem with you than it is with the art being presented.

 

When a woman is scooped up by ICE and injured while being detained and taken to the hospital, that is a situation that has, no doubt, played out across the United States many times in recent months. The Pitt is not getting political by telling that story. And if it makes you uncomfortable watching it, it’s clear that you are just fine with the cruelty of the situation as long as you don’t have to see it.

 

These images and videos of families being torn apart by ICE always come with a hearty helping of “well, actually”. Well, actually, if this family had done this or done that, this wouldn’t be happening to them. The nitty gritty of it all needs to be sanded down. Once a policy is sanded down, faces are removed and only numbers remain, it’s palatable. The real people being affected by it makes it too real for some and they can’t handle it.

 

Going back to the representation angle of it all, including a gay character, characters of all colours and backgrounds, characters whose opinions differ from one another, characters whose lives differ from yours isn’t woke, it isn’t pandering, it’s a reflection of real life. 

 

If a show were to get political, it would talk about the differences between fiscal strategies, the effect of taxes on the populace and the running of a particular city. Accurately reflecting a community back to itself is not getting political. Acknowledging the existence of people who look different and lead different lives is not political - it should be something we can all agree on, but not anymore.