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Where Have You Gone, Mr. Rogers?
 “What shooting?” I asked my wife last Saturday. She told me, and we watched the news for a while. To say the murders at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh had an unnerving effect does not do it justice. While I am not an observant Jew, members of my family are and they pray in synagogues that could have easily been this one. At their best, synagogues offer communities places not just for prayer but for sanctuary and celebration. As a Jew and as an American, the thought of eleven innocent people dying in a synagogue would not too long ago have been almost incomprehensible. Now not as much. As many have pointed out, the Pittsburgh shooting comes on the heels of the 2012 murders at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, WI, the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, SC, and last year’s massacre at a Sutherland Springs, TX church. Saturday’s violence came only a day after law enforcement arrested a man sending pipe bombs to politicians and celebrities whose political views he opposed. The sense that anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of hatred are rising is more than just a feeling. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a 57% jump in anti-Semitic incidents over the past year, the largest increase since 1979. According to the Anti-Violence Project, hate violence-related homicides of LGBTQ people between 2016 and 2017 increased by 86%. The NAACP reported that “hate crime totals for the 10 largest cities rose for four straight years to the highest level in a decade.” Meanwhile, alt-right and white supremacist groups are seeing an explosion in membership and activity. Hate’s rise was no accident. Our nation’s culture and political discourse have been overwhelmed by insults and attacks. Those with different beliefs are demeaned and demonized. Cable news too often resorts to talking heads shouting at each other. Social media too often becomes a venue for paranoid conspiracies and wild assertions free from any basis in fact. Can any of us truly be surprised when hate mongers thrive in this environment? Yes, these people always existed but they didn’t have the legitimacy they do now. White supremacists have admitted feeling free now in ways they hadn’t before. When they marched in Charlottesville, VA last year and killed a counter-protestor the loudest message heard was that there were “good people on both sides.” The die was cast. As I’ve written many times before, movies are a refuge for me in dark times such as these. This week I thought back to the summer, only a couple of months ago but feeling like an eternity. In the midst of the sequels and superhero flicks, a group of documentaries broke through, primarily Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and RBG. Each made it into the box office top 10 on two separate weekends. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? became the top grossing biographical documentary of all time, while RBG was not too far behind. Both not only earned critical acclaim but also exceptional word-of-mouth, becoming part of the pop culture. These films certainly earned their success, but there was something more that moved them forward. Variety noted that Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and RBG “feature wholesome and empowering protagonists. In a news cycle that seems to be perpetually depressing, all signs point to escapism in explaining the box office surge. These films focus on a different kind of counterprogramming, one where hope, sincerity, and reassurance are at the forefront.” As Variety noted, when we talk about escapist movies, we often mean those far removed from reality, be it superheroes, sci-fi, an action flick or a rom-com. But now it also includes true-to-life stories of people with values that seem to be fading from our nation each day. Fred Rogers saw television talking down to children and knew he could do better. In his first year he was reassuring kids after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Throughout his 32 years on the air he taught both young and old how to respect themselves and each other. He had people of all types on his show and treated them the way he would want to be treated. But he did more than teach kindness and compassion. He modeled it. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? showed how the Mr. Rogers off-screen was very similar to the man we saw on TV. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no less inspiring. While I knew about her ongoing work as a Supreme Court Justice, RBG shows how from her time as a young lawyer Ginsburg fought sexual discrimination. She did this not by shouting or attacks, but through a determined and precise use of the law. Case by case she worked to create a better America where opportunities were not defined by gender. One of the more intriguing segments in the film illustrates how Ginsburg did not just fight for people like her. She won a critical case for a single father who was a victim of sex discrimination. RBG also has fun with how Ginsburg, once on the high court, formed a deep friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia. While their political and legal views were diametrically opposed, Ginsburg and Scalia travelled together, went to opera together, and would spend New Year’s Eve together with their respective families. Both Mr. Rogers and Justice Ginsburg epitomize the America I wish we still had. Mr. Rogers often said “look for the helpers” and they are not hard to find, whether it be the law enforcement who rushed into the synagogue or the ENTs, doctors and nurses who treated the wounded. Or the people from all faiths that banded together in peaceful vigils this past week. I know there are many heroes every day working for a kinder and more tolerant nation, the one that Mr. Rogers worked for and the Justice Ginsburg still fights for. But I am afraid they are losing the battle. I don’t enjoy writing that but it feels true. It feels as though the loudest voices are those with the least to say. The truth doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Say one lie, and then if that doesn’t work follow up with another. Then another. Appeal to people’s deepest fears and lowest instincts. It’s all OK as long as you win. What would Mr. Rogers say if he saw this? We’ll never know because Mr. Rogers died in 2003. The Tree of Life shootings were only blocks away from where he lived, making them feel even more like an attack on what his show exemplified. Justice Ginsburg is still serving, but she is 85 years old. Does what they stand for still matter? I hope so but that hope takes a hit every time I read the news and see the hate and anger in this nation grow. Maybe I need to watch Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and RBG again because right now they seem as far-fetched as any summer blockbuster. Adam Spector November 1, 2018 Contact us: |
