The Politics of Lost

Yes, I am writing this.  

For those of you in the Lost world, full of polar bears in Oahu, Hawaii, time portals, healing capabilities, black smoke monsters and ancient Egyptian statues, you may understand the true politics behind the genius of ABC's Lost. 

Think about it: Every Tuesday millions of Americans tune into ABC to get caught in the mind boggling show, freeing their minds from the problems of the outside world to focus on another world: the world of Lost. 

Currently, millions of Americans are out of work, struggling to pay their bills and continue to see the economy slowly rebound. Yet, these millions of Americans tune in and forget about all of those problems for one hour of pure chaos every Tuesday night. 

To think of a world without Lost, to me, is simply as mind boggling as the entire show itself. What will I do on Tuesday nights?...probably study for my Wednesday classes which I have neglected because of the damn show for about 3 years now...What will the millions of viewers do without Lost? Will they all become brain dead, without the imagination that has been given to them since Lost first aired? Or will they truly understand the real world around them, taken from the lessons of Lost.  

The lessons aren't that simple: you have to dig deep to truly understand the message of Lost. But, this season it has been pretty basic: Good V. Evil. Heaven v. Hell. Who is good? Who is evil? What is truly Heaven and what is truly Hell?  

To me, Lost echoes the lessons of The Matrix, in which two worlds exist, one "real" world and one "alternate reality" to distract us from the true Hell that is the real world. 
Of course, there is more to this show than just Heaven and Hell, Good and Evil. The philosophical importance of this show is extremely important to understanding the real world. Virtually every character on Lost is named after a famous philosopher: John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Desmond Hume and Danielle Rousseau, not to mention the lead character's name is Jack Shepherd, invoking thoughts of the phrase "the Lord is my Shepherd."  

Now, the corresponding philosophers believe in the following: Democracy, Socialism, Anarchism, Utilitarianism, Naturalism, and the state of nature. To make it more confusing, character John Locke becomes known as Jeremy Bentham, whose beliefs completely oppose each other: Locke believed that in the state of nature, all men have equal rights while Bentham was opposed to the natural rights of man.  

In addition, I believe that John Locke is the most important character in all of television. If you truly do the research on all of these philosophers: they all have ties to John Locke in some way, either they worked with him or were influenced by him or were completely against him.  

Ok, ok, ok, I know what you're thinking: this kid is reading way too much into a fictional television show and he should start studying for that quiz he has tomorrow. But, what if it wasn't fictional? What if the world truly is what Lost is making it out to be? There is no way to find out if there is truly an alternate reality or not, so who says there truly isn't one? 
I do not know all the answers to Lost. To be honest, before every commercial I find myself saying "what the hell?" and screaming at the television as well. But, the bottom line is this: I don't change the channel. I watch the show, and I get more pissed off than I have ever been in my entire life at the producers of the show, yet I still wake up the next morning and talk to my friends about it for hours on end.  

I truly cannot remember the last time a television show came around that got its viewers to truly think about the show and the overall world around them, but Lost somehow does  it every week. 

To live in a world without Lost is to lose that imagination that I valued so much as a kid, that I lost (no pun intended) when I got older. Somehow, a television show has restored my love for adventure and has restored my imagination all while causing me to rethink the world around me and ask "is this real?"  

I may never know, and the millions of people out there just like me who watch Lost will never know. But, they'll still be talking about it for years to come.  

Lost is not a distraction: it provides its viewers, living in a world full of fear, violence, injustice and imprisonment to truly challenge and rethink whether or not this is truly the world they would like to live in and all this happens without accident via the producers of the show.  

Bottom line: Lost will keep us talking. Lost will keep us questioning the world around us. Lost will help us understand the battle between good and evil. Lost will invoke thoughts of what Heaven and Hell truly are, and find our true selves in the process. In my mind, Lost will help its viewers truly Find what they are looking for: an imagination. Lost will save us. 
Now, back to the real world.