So, I was sitting here debating writing this post about social media and its recent impacts, both positive and negative, when I ended up watching one of my favorite shows —“King of the Hill.” Hank, the main character, is a propane dealer who drives an old truck, drinks beers regularly with three other guys from the neighborhood and is married to Peggy, a substitute teacher. Peggy and Hank have a 13-year-old son named Bobby. The show is set in Arlen, Texas, and Hank is your stereotypical Texas man (he’s deeply into football, goes to a Christian church, loves to grill and hunt, is unafraid of fisticuffs, lives for all things masculine and fears showing affection to name a few characteristics).
In this particular episode, “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” Bobby comes home one day and gives one of the neighbors, Boomhauer, a make-believe ticket for driving a clunker. Bobby has learned from one of his teachers that many gas-guzzling old cars like Boomhauer’s contribute a great deal to air pollution.
Bobby later goes inside of his house and tells his mom about being green. His mom responded by saying she is very green; she has dozens of plastic shopping bags tucked inside a larger plastic shopping bag and will one day take them back to the grocery store. Bobby, unsatisfied by her answer, gives her a ticket also.
(The issue here is framing messages. Bobby has learned from his teacher what is green and what isn’t. Meanwhile, Hank, Peggy and Boomhauer have received messages about the environment from sources that deemed environmental activists as people with too much free time on their hands and too much nonsense spewing from their lips. Interesting. It reminds me of our current situation!)
Hank soon meets Bobby’s teacher, Mr. McKay, and they subsequently discuss the environment. Hank, a hardcore supporter (and dealer) of propane tells McKay that they should get along because he lives to sell clean-burning propane gas and grills.
“Propane just perpetuates the whole culture of backyard barbecues. Paper plates. Plastic forks. MEAT,” McKay responded.
“I've sold three grills today using those exact words, but with a more positive attitude,” Hank responded exasperatedly.
That’s framing, folks!
Later in the episode, as a joke on Boomhauer, Hank decides to become more supportive of Bobby and his class project. Bobby is so surprised by his father’s sudden support that he immediately questions Hank’s motives. “I thought you said that tree-huggers like me and Mr. McKay were a bunch of noodle-brained Communists,” Bobby told Hank.
Framing, again!
The point is, I could go on and on with more comical examples of framing from this episode that are all parallel to the current debates over whether humans are the cause and possible solution of our global climate crisis. It is up to us as individuals to decide whether we will be influenced by facts or our predisposed notions about what the facts should be. I hope we pick facts more than non-facts!
The complete transcript of the episode is available online here:
