Revenge of The Simpsons

Sunday's episode of The Simpsons got a little preachy.

I don't mean preachy in the Rev. Lovejoy sense. I mean it had an anti-war message.

A watershed moment of the Vietnam era was when Walter Cronkite traded in his journalistic objectivity to editorialize against the war, reporting that it was unwinnable. (Cronkite said this after the Tet Offensive. Did you know that was a military victory for the U.S.?)

Supposedly, President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost the country."

He was right; not necessarily about Cronkite, but Johnson had lost the country. And without the support of the country, defeat was inevitable.

Could President Bush say something similar today, "If I've lost The Simpsons, I've lost the country"?

I think a case could be made for that.

Sunday's Simpsons installment was about revenge, "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times."

After Homer was cut off in traffic, he had a fit of road rage. With Marge beside him in the front seat and the kids in the back, Homer went on a rampage, vowing to get revenge.

The family tried to illustrate the impact that revenge has on the one seeking it. Marge, Lisa, and Bart attempted to reach Homer by telling him stories of revenge and its consequences.

The episode was divided into three segments, three vignettes as told by Marge, Lisa, and Bart.

Marge: "The Count of Monte Fatso" - in pre-revolutionary France, Homer plots his revenge on Moe after he frames Homer for treason

Lisa: "Revenge of the Geeks" - the geeks develop a glove to inflict punishment on the bullies, but Milhouse has his own enemies list

Bart: "Bartman Begins" - when young Bart Simpson's parents are murdered in Gotham City, he becomes Bartman in an attempt to find the killer

To make sure that viewers didn't miss the message that the episode was a statement on war and particularly Iraq, there was a tip-off as subtle as a slap in the face.

When Homer set out on his mission of revenge, hanging out the car window and trying to hit the offending driver's car with a baseball bat, Marge cautioned, "Revenge never solves anything."

Homer responded, "Then what's America doing in Iraq?"

The three vignettes followed. It sort of had the feeling of one of the Halloween episodes with cast members taking on different roles in unusual settings.

Marge told her story to no avail. Homer was still bent on revenge.

Lisa then gave it a shot.

Her tale included a power mad Milhouse, making the bullies pay for their abuses.

Again, the Iraq parallels were in your face.

No one was safe from the wrath of Milhouse. He showed no mercy.

Milhouse was challenged, "This is my first day at this school. I haven't done anything to you."

He replied, "You will. This is PRE-venge." I took that to be a nod of disapproval to the Bush Doctrine.

After concluding her parable, Lisa charged Homer with being addicted to revenge.

When Homer confused the moral of her story, Lisa clarified, "The lesson is when you take revenge you become just as bad as the person you harm."

Sound like the "blame America" types to you?

Bart wanted his chance to tell a story as well. Homer wasn't interested in hearing what stupid Bart had to say, until Marge indicated to Homer that he needed to be a good father and listen to Bart, too.

The Superhero Bart segment was just more fantasy. I had lost interest by that point.

The episode concluded with Homer and the other driver lying back on the hood of his car, staring up at the stars. Homer said that they had talked things over and discovered that they had a lot in common.

The two briefly argued about how many stars were in the sky. Homer insisted that there were just two. There weren't. It was more heavy-handed preaching. We have to learn to live and let live and accept each other in spite of our differences.

In sum, viewers were treated to a choppy show, connected only by the underlying message -- revenge is senseless. More specifically, U.S. foreign policy and war is senseless.

The finale was a dedication stating that the episode was in honor of the dead from the Star Wars movies, a black screen with scrolling names.

That made me cringe.

I agree that revenge for its own sake is a misguided reaction benefiting no one. That's a nice lesson.

What I didn't like was the political bent. Interesting that the episode just happened to air to coincide with the weekend's anti-war protests, isn't it?

I like The Simpsons best when humor and wit rule, when it's a respite from the nightmarish news of the day.

Please, no partisan preaching.

The episode simplified the realities of our world. Current U.S. military operations aren't rooted in revenge per se. There's a difference between seeking revenge and seeking justice to protect Americans in the long term.

And we've learned that pre-emptive action in the post-9/11 era has become an unfortunate necessity. What's the other option? Do we wait to be hit again? Do we allow extremists to slaughter thousands of innocents with impunity, thereby inviting them to do it again?

Homer flying into a rage over being cut off on the road is not analogous to fighting our self-proclaimed enemies.

For all its inconsistencies and flaws, I do see Sunday's Simpsons episode as significant.

Surely, Homer and the Simpson family carry as much weight in 2007 as Walter Cronkite did in 1968.