A pessimist, a man who only saw the glass half empty, a foreteller of this country’s dying day. All these seem to hit the characteristics of David Simon accurately, wouldn’t you agree. At Simon’s spiel on the sixth of February, many expected to see a man at a podium talking about the success of his show, “The Wire.” However, to several dismays, he actually had a point and a theme, “The End of the American Empire.”
“The Wire” is a show that pushes the envelope of television, reality, and the unknown American life. A fictitious show that entails the lifestyles a selective group of individuals among the Baltimore community, The Wire introduces it’s viewers to the drugs, murders, and corruption that we are unaware or refusing to notice. Yes, like David Simon reiterated throughout his whole speak, the show is not real and is based on the lives of imaginary characteristics; however, the theme is very much alive and healthy. David Simon uses shows such as “The Wire,” “Homicide,” and “The Corner” to portray the death of America. He opened our eyes to the injustices that are all around us and gave us certain realizations I think many have chosen to shun.
“We are in a post industrial age in which humans are worth less---lives are expendable…” says David Simon. Simon’s speak revolved around the power of capitalism and how it has corrupted the American existence. Coming to Loyola’s campus and then leaving it, it has become evident that Simon’s statements were quite accurate. There are definitely “two Baltimores.” I have seen the prosperous neighborhoods that surround the roads of North Charles Street. I have also seen the broken down homes of York Road and East Cold Spring Lane. Such differences in environment are apparent all around America but can sometimes go with little notice.
Is Democracy dead? To David Simon it seems so. Simon assured the audience that day that votes in Maryland do not count. Sixty percent of the votes represent forty percent of the states population. Whether or not such statements hold substance is up to the viewers. Simon considers The Wire to be “the purest logic of the dollar.” Simon attacks the government’s action towards combating the poverty and dismay that overtakes certain citizens of this country day by day. He criticized and ridiculed the “no child left behind” policy instituted by the Bush administration. Children in Maryland and all around this country are very much behind in the standards of education that they should be achieving at certain ages. Simon definitely hit home base when he criticized people’s view points of the drug dealers and the adolescents in those areas. Many tell them not to take such a path, but “how can you just say no to the only economically viable engine in your environment” said Simon. And how right was he. The opportunities laid out for the children in such societies are not only limited but sometimes nonexistent.
The topics discussed that day were concrete realism. Indeed, Simon did not end his speech with a cute solution and a positive notion that left a message of inspiration. Unfortunately, he did not allow us to go home with resolutions that gave affirmation to our ignorance. What David Simon gave me was a sense of the reality around me that I do not see or choose to be blind to. Simon opened the door; however, it is up to us to go through it.
