Bloody Shame

 

In a way it’s sort of galling to get a lesson in personal and civic responsibility from a nearly 3,000-year old vampire.

But when Russell Edgington — the heartbroken, blood-crazed vampire king of Mississippi — took to the airwaves on last night’s episode of True Blood to berate humans for thinking they are equal with vampires and deconstruct arguments that humans and vampires are alike, that’s exactly what happened.

And I quote:

I suppose, in a few small ways, we are. We’re narcissists. We care only about getting what we want no matter the cost … just like you.

Global warming, perpetual war, toxic waste, child labor, torture, genocide … that’s a small price to pay for your SUVs, and your flat screen TVs. Your designer jeans; Your absurd, garish McMansions! … futile symbols of permanence to quell your quivering spineless souls …

 

Ok, so let’s forget for a second this admonition was delivered by a being

that eats humans for dinner.

Let’s ignore the fact his diatribe was delivered while

holding a bloody portion of a human’s spine.

Let’s also skip over the really ewwww-y fact that the King spent much of last night’s episode crying over a ridiculously ornate punch bowl filled with the splattered remains of his dead mate.

 

The man (er … vampire) has a point …

So much so that critic Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti) wrote in the Los Angeles Times Show Tracker that he would readily “vote for Russell Edgington for president.”

*****************

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that few people out there would support the notion of their daily actions contributing to any of the woes Russell mentioned.

But the truth is that many of the goods we purchase are produced by companies – intentionally or unintentionally (and to be fair, the majority unintentionally) – that source materials that contribute by design, geography, repressive political environments or other reasons to exactly those sorts of soul-crushing realities.

Our governments – all of our governments – contribute to human rights abuses in our collective names, paying lip service to the common good when they must, before returning to commit more abuses.

Our governments, businesses and societies – broadly speaking – actively contribute to the destruction of our natural environment and remain politically unable to do anything about it.

I’m guessing this is not news to any of you.

************************

And yet it continues …

and so it shall until every individual on the world stands up to stop it.

Probably not going to happen anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that each one of us shouldn’t stand up and act on the issues that mean the most to us as individuals. Lead in children’s toys, clean water, human trafficking, global warming, free speech in China … whatever means something to you.

Until then, I think …. “Now, time for the weather! Tiffany?”