Given all of the terrible events going on right now in the world, I find myself troubled by my desire to indulge in escapist entertainment. I’ve always watched such entertainment, yet right now there is something odd about the disjunction between what I am watching for fun and what I am learning from the News each day.
We are indeed a nation awash in escapist entertainment. We seem to have built our very economy around the desire to consume fantasy for fun. Entire industries have been built to serve this desire, and entire other industries have been built to serve those industries.
On balance, I think it is not the act of watching escapist entertainment that is the problem, but the way we might perform that act as a way to tune out the very serious events of the world. We all need to let off some steam — particularly in terrible times. The problem comes when we do so as a way of avoiding a difficult reality.
So I guess it’s all right, so long as we understand what we’re doing. Yes, it’s ok, from time to time, to eat that slice of chocolate cake. Just don’t start thinking that the chocolate cake is the meal.