Debating the Details, Missing the Big Picture

Yesterday, I was talking with a co-worker about a recent New Yorker article about the confluence of crystal meth and HIV in gay men. (I really suggest that you make the time and read the article. Just be forewarned that reading about how crystal meth fuels the spread of HIV might just ruin your day.) Maybe a little heavy for casual office chatter, but it was hump day, all bets are off. The article pieces together a whole string of anecdotes and facts, but the most interesting observation came near the end, when a researcher started talking about how wide-spread depression among gay-men feeds into the destructive meth-sex cycle:

"This suggests that substance abuse is a thread in a larger tapestry," Stall told me. "And one shouldn't forget that crystal methamphetamine also acts"at first"as an antidepressant. People talk about 'Will and Grace' and how accepting America is now of homosexuality. That is simply not true. America has come a country mile, I agree. Still, in the state I just left, Georgia, where the C.D.C. has its headquarters, almost four out of every five adults recently voted to deny gay men and lesbians the right to even have a civil marriage. We have an awful lot more work to do."

In some ways, its a no brainer: feeling depressed about life, take a drug that wipes away any sort of bad feelings or inhibitions, have a weekend of casual sex, wake up feeling even more depressed on Monday morning. Maybe with a new STD. But really, how often do we as a society get caught up in the little things, and miss the big picture rolling by?

Look at today's headlines. We're talking about filibusters, sex-ed, and Star Wars. Do any of these things really impact society as a whole? I mean, do filibusters solve the government's coming fiscal crisis? or feed the starving? Does having sex-ed banished from class rooms really matter when many American kids barely have the basic skills needed to function in modern society? And Star Wars? WTF guys, people around the world hate America because they see us as morally and culturally corrupt, and this is the best that we can come up with?

After the November elections, I was too depressed to read the papers. I figured that if I didn't know about all the crappy things that were happening, I would be better off. Quite frankly, I didn't miss much that affected my daily life. Maybe I should go back to ignoring the press. Most of the rest of America does. I can always get the things that matter from the blogosphere.