News-Letter

Media Credit: Shiv Gandhi

Writer, journalist and native Baltimorean David Simon had an interesting take on the theme of this year's Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium in a speech at Shriver Hall Wednesday night. Instead of "Renewing American Culture," he said, he preferred to focus on its collapse.

Simon, a former crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun, has gone on to create two critically acclaimed TV shows based on his experiences. He delivered a bleak analysis of the city's political, economic and educational institutions - including Hopkins - and how they fail to serve the public.

"There's a lot for Hopkins to be ashamed of," he said of the Hospital's role in the deterioration of East Baltimore, now the scene of a controversial urban renewal program that has razed dilapidated neighborhoods in favor of a Biotechnology park.

"For 30 years, Hopkins let that place go to [expletive], and didn't lift an eye," he said. "You want credit for saving it, but you were part of the problem, you really are."

He went on to explain that his current show, The Wire - acclaimed by scores of critics for its gritty realism and unique "visual narrative" style - chronicles the ravages of unfettered capitalism and a failed war on drugs and how each devalues the lives of poor and middle-class Americans more and more each day. Simon hypothesized that America is going to become a coarser and brutish place; there will be more resentment between classes and more mediocrity within the media because the mass media cannot offend anyone.

But despite this cynicism, he has found in the production of The Wire a medium where he does not need to worry about placating the masses; a medium where he can tell the truth, where he can tell his story of Baltimore's inner city life.

The Wire, Simon said, is dissent; it's apolitical; it's an angry, dark story. Such a story cannot be told if it is necessary to stop every 12 minutes for commercials.

However with the introduction of cable and premium cable such as HBO, he realized that he could have a future in television. He could do true storytelling in a virtual media and did not have to worry about appealing to the masses, but rather have the opportunity to portray his message that human beings are worthless; and the degradation of human beings' worth is raw capitalism.

Continued...

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