Everybody keeps telling me I have to watch it. But I just can’t.
CBC Television, Canada’s national public broadcaster, may have a rare hit on its hands with The Border, which follows the espionage and drama associated with policing our gateway to the United States. I’ve been told it’s as close as we’ve got to 24. I’ve been told that people are surprised by how gripping the storylines are. All I can focus on, though, are the images I’ve seen of a character called Heironymous Slade, who manages to capture every cliché you’ve ever deplored about the IT industry.
“The Squad’s resident computer geek, half-fused with banks of surveillance screens, satellite feeds and computer monitors surround him,” reads the cast description of Slade on the show’s Web site. “He lives on nerves and non-stop junk food, processing input from a dozen sources at once, a creature of cyberspace.”
Yeeech. Then there’s the costume: The character appears to be continuously decked out in short-sleeve checked shirt, indecipherable rock T-shirt underneath, tousled hair and sneakers. And don’t worry, his face isn’t handsome, either. Still, CBC might have transcended the common perception of IT by giving Slade lots of inner beauty and a great personality, right?
Nuh-uh. “Slade’s social skills are virtually non-existent,” the cast bio continues. “He has no verbal censor, often behaves inappropriate, is borderline obsessive-compulsive, and has a hard time with personal boundaries.” Let’s promote this guy already!
Just to add some depth to the character – for those viewers who sometimes wonder who on Earth spawned the IT guy in their office, anyway – CBC throws in a mother-son relationship that’s straight out of Pyscho. “He lives on his own, but his mother drops off seven read-to-heat meals every week. She’s just happy he has a job, and has no idea of the critical role he plays in protecting his country from harm.”
Kind of like the many people who look down their noses at technical experts in the enterprise and fail to acknowledge that their everyday ability to meet their goals is dependent on the talent of those who are ridiculed every week by the Heironymous Slade types (CBC is by no means the only one to create this character) on TV.
Maybe if The Border is as good as my friends say it is, Slade’s character will become more well-rounded and appreciated by his cast mates. For some IT managers, unfortunately, the early episodes may look like a bad rerun of their own on-the-job abuse. You can’t really judge a TV show without watching at least a few episodes, but I don’t have to see anything beyond this to know that the program trades in lazy stereotypes that perpetuate prejudicial attitudes towards people who deserve better.