Two Americas

Every day, humans are worth less in our world. That was the main idea of this year’s Humanities Symposium, given by producer David Simon. Simon’s hit television series “The Wire” is a representation of this belief, and also gives viewers an inside look into the “other America.”
Simon gave a pessimistic albeit interesting talk about his show and his views on politics, economics, and the media. He was very negative about capitalism in America, but I cannot pretend to know much about that subject or understand it very well. I can however agree with several of his points about an increasingly urban America.
For several years, Simon was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun after graduating from the University of Maryland. During his journalistic career, he was privy to a great deal of criminal activity, particularly of the drug variety. He spoke with and developed relationships with many Baltimore residents, whether they were spectators of or participants in the crimes. His cynicism about this part of the city is therefore well-founded; the characters and situations he portrays on “The Wire” are based on real situations and real people who are every bit as complex as the show says.
Another thing that Simon pointed out—that I had not necessarily considered before—is the existence of “two Americas.” He said, “The Baltimore I live in and the Baltimore I write about are completely different but only blocks apart. It’s very difficult to tell one side of the story to the other.” The fact is there are two Baltimores. As Loyola students, we see both: places like the Inner Harbor area that attracts tourists and has upper-class housing, and the York Road neighborhoods that we know to stay away from. We don’t truly witness this other side because we don’t live there, but that does not mean we should ignore it completely. What I got out of Simon’s talk was not that we are all doomed no matter what, but that if we attempt to increase the value of the individual, of human dignity, then we may begin to succeed in improving society.
Many Baltimore residents identify with “The Wire,” especially the police officers and public school teachers who are right in the middle of the drug and criminal activity on a day to day basis. They praise the show for its realistic depiction, and Simon appreciates their reaction because “that’s who we write the show for.” The higher ranking city officials are not such big fans of the series; they believe it portrays them in a terrible light and that they are doing a much better job in controlling that crime than the show implies. If Simon were to cater to their needs, the show would be just like every other one of its kind: an unrealistic picture of better looking, wittier people who know nothing about the “other America.” Simon believes that that kind of mistaken portrayal of poverty by the entertainment industry is very misleading. He wants the issues on his show to matter to others as much as they matter to him.
Simon’s talk was unlike any other most of us have attended at Loyola. He certainly kept the audience awake, and thankfully kept us involved by avoiding a lengthy lecture and opting for a very informative question and answer period. Even if he was a bit depressing, many students and professors agreed that his was one of the best talks they’d ever attended. The passionate way in which he spoke about his career made me look at the world a lot differently, made me even more interested in journalism and news reporting, and made me want to join my father the next time he watches “The Wire.” I even got an autograph!