(I love this title, people.  Snark & Boredom.  Take a moment and create amongst yourselves your own scenario for Snark & Boredom.  Are they two female cops just trying to make it (on the FORCE, not with each other!) a la Cagney & Lacey, or is it a product you probably wouldn't buy at the drugstore?  Myriad choices await.)

Now on to the serious stuff.  And please, because I am nobody's idea of an intellectual, consider yourself caveat-ed...this may all be either redundant and/or clueless.  (Hey!  Clueless & Redundant....no, never mind.)

The New York Times Magazine for September 17, 2006 contains an article by Wyatt Mason entitled My Satirical Self.  In this article, Mr. Mason examines the rise of satire from those wacky ancient Romans to our own United Snarks of America.  His point seems to me to be that we are now, more than ever, addicted to the snappy comeback, the biting comment, and a sense of "Let's Make Everything A Joke!", whether it be the over-the-top wedding of two celebrities or the death of Terri Schaivo.

I'm wondering if this isn't because we've lost a lot of faith in things that we used to depend on.  Families fall apart, so we laugh at The Simpsons and other shows about dysfunction. (Don't get me wrong, I love Homer and Bart.) We chortle at Dave Chappelle and Jon Stewart's take on politics instead of really thinking about the state of the world.  And personally, if I hear another "joke" about priests and altar boys...

I don't find this to be gentle laughter, or amusing humor.  I think it adds to the pain of the world and that we pay snark's price psychically and karmically.  No more rapier wit for me.  Now i just have to find something to do with a verbal plowshare....

My other comment is about boredom.  When did it become fashionable, yea, even sexy, to be bored all the time?  I think we live in the least boring time imaginable.  Think about it.  You're a Middle Ages serf.  (Even a young serf.  Whatever.)  You get up at dawn, you eat some bread, you go out into a field you don't own and you work until the sun goes down.  Maybe you sing some songs while you do it, but I bet you don't.  I think you save your breath for working.  At the end of the day, you go home to your hut and you eat whatever is there.  Perhaps you talk to your family, but since they're all serfs too, I can't imagine scintillating repartee.  You sleep when the sun goes down.  For a change of pace, you get to go to church on Sundays and feast days.  And yet, every time I'm anywhere on the net, there are all these people with screen names like "xXx-BoredGirl-xXx" going ON about their extreme boredom.  Is this attractive?  Did I miss something?

In an effort to sort out this phenomenon, I did some research.  (Homer voice: MMM RESEARCH.)  I've decided to date this to 1982 and blame it all on Pete Townsend.

"Exquisitely bored in California
We take our trouble to the Crest
Exquisitely bored in California
Exquisitely bored, Just like all the rest"

I guess I should be glad that the talented Mr. Townsend decided against something like "Exquisitely Irregular", because I don't need to hear about the state of an entire generation's bowels.

That's all for now.  Let me know your views on snark & boredom...I'm interested and I won't be nasty.  Promise.