How are Obama and Skins alike?

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John Doyle, The Globe and Mail (Canada)

In the way of things in the United States these days, Obama’s State of the Union speech is under attack before it has even been delivered. Advance reports that the U.S. president will announce increased spending on infrastructure brought forth shrill condemnation on the TV talking-head shows on Sunday. Nobody knows nuthin’, so to speak, but everybody’s got a position.

Meanwhile, the big story in the TV racket right now is the battering that MTV is taking for airing its American version of the U.K. teen drama Skins. This is not unconnected to all that flapping about Obama, infrastructure, health care and the venomous nature of debate in the United States.

(snip)

The accusations of exploitation and child pornography are, of course, laughable. The actors on Skins are under adult supervision and, if they are under the age of 18, their parents or guardians must give consent. Besides, they don’t actually have sex or consume drugs on the show. That part is called “acting.”

The connection between the flap about Skins and the ceaseless jaw-flapping about the Obama administration, is this – in both instances there is a powerful need to ignore reality and simply take a position that can be summarized in a sound bite. What’s scary about Obama is that he might actually tackle problems that exist. What’s scary about Skins is that it is all too believable about the urban teenage world, here and now.

Full story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/john-doyle/how-are-obama-and-skins-alike/article1881333/