What If?

There are some days when I want to feel like I'm not letting my brain atrophy, but I don't want to crack open any textbooks. So what do I do to quench (or rather, dampen) my thirst for knowledge? I head to the Netflix documentary section. Today I saw something that piqued my interest because of its relevance in my life today. As a recently unemployed, somewhat directionless 20-something, I spend a lot of time on Craigslist. I'm not talking trade a coffee table for a blowey, just job stuff. When I saw the premise for Craigslist Joe, I thought, "really? This dude is gonna try to survive for 30 days based on nothing but Craigslist ads? Pssshyeahright." Joe Garner's central thesis poses this question: is technology hindering or enhancing our sense of community? But I think he actually boils down to the the age old question: is man good or evil? 

Joe ends up taking a lasso-shaped journey around America stopping mostly in major cities with the occasional pit stop in a small town and I think that based on his experience, we can assume that man is good. And I hate to be the one jaded jerk who shits all over the sunny happy unicorn rainbows party, but I have to wonder if the circumstances would have been any different if Joe wasn't a regular looking white dude who had a camera man following him around. I also have to wonder how much more altruistic these strangers became once they saw a camera pointed in their faces. Joe looks like a Joe. Remember in 2008 when McCain based half of his presidential campaign on wanting to help Main St. America and the regular guys? The Joe Plummers of America! McCain met Joe Garner and decided to base his campaign on him. He was well groomed, wore jeans, a plain jacket and a backpack the entire time. But would Joe have spent more than one night sleeping in a booth in a coffee shop if he looked a little more homeless and had a hidden camera? Would these strangers have been extra nice and given him food and clothes?

The other issue is safety. I don't think he ever had to worry too much about safety since he has a walking insurance policy following him in the form of Kevin the cameraman, but as a woman who has traveled in a foreign country by herself and gotten pick-pocketed, I can't help but think boy, it would have been nice to have a camera man following me to record the fucker who stole my passport and money. I know plenty of women who have traveled alone successfully, but when it actually happens to you your opinions lean the other way, like McCain and torture (gosh, lots of McCain parallels here). And I didn't even get assaulted! But even pick-pocketing left me with that nagging paranoia I can never  fully shake. That and the fact that my parents are avid local news and 20/20 watchers. Goddamn it, John Stossel. Crushing my optimism, one episode at a time. 

This is not to discredit his efforts at all. He was proactive in finding free events in which to meet people and he volunteered in the cities that he stayed in for more than a couple of days, trading labor for a free meal or a place to stay. I also think he had to be smart in what postings he responded to. 

When Joe's mother asked him to sum up his trip, he said that it was inspiring. And whether or not he meant to inspire as well as be inspired, it has made me reexamine my trust issues and I can only hope that I meet as many generous, kind-hearted strangers as Joe met so I can say "HA!" to that John Stossel voice in the back of my head. My other take-away came when the credits rolled and Zach Galifianakis was listed as the Executive Producer, which made think, "Huh. People are surprising."