Last night, David Simon, the creator and executive producer of the HBO drama The Wire (among other things), was the guest speaker at Loyola College in Maryland’s 2007 Humanities Symposium. Titled Urban Spaces, Urban Voices, the symposium uses Jane Jacobs’ seminal text The Death and Life of Great American Cities as its point of departure. And who better to talk about the death of the American city than David Simon? He started by outlining his world view, which you know if you’ve read any of his books, seen any of his tv shows, or heard him interviewed, is not all that rosy. In fact, it’s downright pessimistic. Simon’s central thesis is this: in today’s world, human beings are worth less than they used to be, are not as important, have become less and less necessary, and are expendable—useless to the institutions they serve.
I wanted to ask a question, but wanted to phrase it just right. By the time I had carefully composed my query, the line at the microphone had been disbanded. But here’s what I was going to say:
I want to start by saying that I’m a great admirer of your work. There’s a wonderful, well-founded pessimism underlying all that you do. Specifically related to the war on drugs, you make the point that all of the tactics meant to remedy the problem are actually attempts by those who design them to mislead us into believing that progress is being made, when in fact, there is no progress whatsoever. When I read The Corner or watch The Wire I say, “Wow, David Simon is calling my attention to a lot of problems with society here.” But I never get a sense of what you think will make it better, besides Bunny Colvin taking it upon himself to decriminalize drugs, something that was actually suggested in Baltimore not long ago. So what do you see as a solution?
Luckily, the last person in line—an acquaintance of Simon’s from the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Maryland—asked pretty much the same thing, although phrased much more eloquently. This was his answer (paraphrased): Things will begin to get better when our leaders begin to plant olive trees rather than annuals. In other words, taking the long view instead of looking for instant gratification.
democracy: n. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
oligarchy: n. Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
