Simple Truths, Simple Lies

“Mad Men”, which if you haven’t seen it, is terrific television (Sundays on AMC) and it walked away with the lion’s share of this year’s Emmy awards. Not to be redundant if you have seen it or to ruin it if you haven’t, the show is about a Madison Avenue Advertising firm in the early 1960s and the drama surrounding its officers, employees, and families in this time of great change.

There two things that I love about the show. First is the coolness factor, I have to be honest and say that I am getting the itch to run out and buy a 1960s cut grey suit and white shirts with French cuffs! It was just so damn cool! I also have to be honest and admit that 25 years after I quit smoking, watching them light up over martinis does it for me. I feel like running out and buying a pack of Viceroy’s (do they still make them?) and lighting up!

And the second thing I love, and what motivated me to write this blog, is the total lack of political correctness displayed by the characters. Now to be sure, some of it is just plain repulsive. I don’t agree with calling women cute little names and spouting sexual innuendo (and in some cases pretty graphically!), but there is something really refreshing about calling dumb, smart, ridiculous, stupid, disgusting, crazy, etc. by their real names as opposed to some watered down, carefully constructed version like “having professional issues” or “not a team player” or “it was due to a breakdown in communication”.

To those who know me, I am a throw-back to that time. It is when I grew up after all. I’m not afraid to say that I still think men look great in hats, with their hair parted. I am also as non-PC as they come, but I have to admit it does make my companions occasionally uncomfortable. Why should that be? Why should what is evident to everyone in the room, somehow be off limits?

Case in point is how we are somehow afraid to call a lie, a lie. Our leaders can stand in front of a huge crowd, say something that is clearly a lie, and if they are called on it, the accuser, who generally is correct, is called an agitator or worse. For example, when the President gave his speech before Congress on healthcare last month, he cited two examples that were both factually and entirely incorrect. No, not the immigration issue that Congressman Wilson shouted about, the assertions happened to be about two people and their insurance coverage. The truth turned out to be very different from the story told the night before and when called on it, the White House responded that while the actual facts may not have been accurate, the sentiment certainly was. I just hate it when facts get in the way of a good story. And that is not the unbelievable part. Later, the President’s allies started calling anyone who brought up this sort of thing (also known as fact checking) a racist! Are we forgetting that the President was elected by the vast majority of the population in the first place and that his race is not some big secret?

Don’t you think the world would be a better place if we could state simple truths without regard to whose feelings we may hurt? Better yet, wouldn’t it be great to state a simple fact and not have your motivations impugned? You know, good is good, bad is bad, truth and lies are distinct, and the list goes on. Ah, well, I suppose I will just have to buy some Brylcream and a hat to go with my Viceroy’s and sit alone at a bar drinking dirty martinis and reminiscing…