Comments on: “The Wire” Rewired http://www.radioopensource.org/the-wire-rewired/ Christopher Lydon in conversation on arts, ideas and politics Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:49:43 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Alexandre http://www.radioopensource.org/the-wire-rewired/comment-page-1/#comment-165670 Alexandre Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:00:06 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=4546#comment-165670 @Kento: What's powerful about your post goes beyond any given "reading" of the show. Or of any show, for that matter. It seems to be about some key realizations. Those which move us into action. And action can take many forms. Some are clearly visible, even loud. Others are subtle, happening mostly in elaborate thought processes or in conversations. Or in blog comments. It's clearly not too late to think about The Wire in a new way. Or take up lessons, from The Wire. Unlike graded formal learning, lifelong learning can be about this back-and-forth between taking things lightly and taking them more seriously. Sometimes, a very deep idea can make its way into our minds without our noticing it. Isn't it possible that this is what The Wire did to you? That you consciously watched it as entertainment but let your mind catch other, deeper dimensions? Not having a television, myself, I haven't been able to watch The Wire. But this podcast episode and these comments help me get a lot from it. Now I should watch it. Good thing it's available on DVD. @Kento: What’s powerful about your post goes beyond any given “reading” of the show. Or of any show, for that matter. It seems to be about some key realizations. Those which move us into action.
And action can take many forms. Some are clearly visible, even loud. Others are subtle, happening mostly in elaborate thought processes or in conversations. Or in blog comments.
It’s clearly not too late to think about The Wire in a new way. Or take up lessons, from The Wire. Unlike graded formal learning, lifelong learning can be about this back-and-forth between taking things lightly and taking them more seriously. Sometimes, a very deep idea can make its way into our minds without our noticing it. Isn’t it possible that this is what The Wire did to you? That you consciously watched it as entertainment but let your mind catch other, deeper dimensions?

Not having a television, myself, I haven’t been able to watch The Wire. But this podcast episode and these comments help me get a lot from it.
Now I should watch it. Good thing it’s available on DVD.

]]> By: Kento Ikeda http://www.radioopensource.org/the-wire-rewired/comment-page-1/#comment-165661 Kento Ikeda Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:22:32 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=4546#comment-165661 There is so much attention paid to how popular forms of media desensitizes us to violence. But The Wire shows the medium isn't the problem, here is a TV show that's radically humanizing. Our problem (my problem!) is a radical disconnect with what the world is actually like for so many people. I watched it as entertainment, emotionally difficult entertainment, but entertainment, and just thinking about it now I'm realizing I have to watch it again to really get all I can out of it. It was easy to get that the problem was more complicated than politicians ever acknowledge, that there's an entire economy of experience in our own cities that we don't realize exists. It's a powerful show. But I doubt my experience is novel in that I hadn't made this world as real to me as I could have, having grown up in such a sterile, safe environment. That I took it as entertainment in a way I can't now, having heard people talk about the show as having been their lives. 2008 was the year I watched all five seasons of The Wire, and one of the things that gave me the most hope in 2008 was that both John McCain and Barack Obama stated that they were fans of The Wire. It is one of the most interesting things about each candidate (especially McCain!) that was hardly touched on by the media, it would have been fascinating to have the two men talk about the show. (I hope that President Obama isn't a Carcetti, or if he is, that his being President has ensured his ambition can't get in the way of good policy.) There is so much attention paid to how popular forms of media desensitizes us to violence. But The Wire shows the medium isn’t the problem, here is a TV show that’s radically humanizing. Our problem (my problem!) is a radical disconnect with what the world is actually like for so many people.

I watched it as entertainment, emotionally difficult entertainment, but entertainment, and just thinking about it now I’m realizing I have to watch it again to really get all I can out of it. It was easy to get that the problem was more complicated than politicians ever acknowledge, that there’s an entire economy of experience in our own cities that we don’t realize exists. It’s a powerful show. But I doubt my experience is novel in that I hadn’t made this world as real to me as I could have, having grown up in such a sterile, safe environment. That I took it as entertainment in a way I can’t now, having heard people talk about the show as having been their lives.

2008 was the year I watched all five seasons of The Wire, and one of the things that gave me the most hope in 2008 was that both John McCain and Barack Obama stated that they were fans of The Wire. It is one of the most interesting things about each candidate (especially McCain!) that was hardly touched on by the media, it would have been fascinating to have the two men talk about the show. (I hope that President Obama isn’t a Carcetti, or if he is, that his being President has ensured his ambition can’t get in the way of good policy.)

]]> By: ChelseaM http://www.radioopensource.org/the-wire-rewired/comment-page-1/#comment-164579 ChelseaM Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:19:05 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=4546#comment-164579 Hallelujah! Ever since finishing season five of "The Wire" I've been waiting for it to get the ROS treatment. Thank you. If the Nobel committee is in the habit of delivering preemptive peace prizes I hope next year's goes to David Simon, Ed Burns, Donnie Andrews, Sonja Sohn, and all the others who are turning "The Wire" into an ongoing conversation about what is ailing urban America. Hallelujah!

Ever since finishing season five of “The Wire” I’ve been waiting for it to get the ROS treatment. Thank you.

If the Nobel committee is in the habit of delivering preemptive peace prizes I hope next year’s goes to David Simon, Ed Burns, Donnie Andrews, Sonja Sohn, and all the others who are turning “The Wire” into an ongoing conversation about what is ailing urban America.

]]> By: Judy http://www.radioopensource.org/the-wire-rewired/comment-page-1/#comment-164523 Judy Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:05:56 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=4546#comment-164523 I respect the work that was done here. very admirable. I respect the work that was done here. very admirable.

]]> By: Alexandre http://www.radioopensource.org/the-wire-rewired/comment-page-1/#comment-164497 Alexandre Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:05:08 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=4546#comment-164497 Good job! Really good job! Different tone from the usual, but very respectful and useful. Good job! Really good job!
Different tone from the usual, but very respectful and useful.

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