The Cosby Show (Social Media Edition)

In the abundant ugliness of twenty-first century America, it is often difficult to discern a single stool amidst the cesspool of shit. But every once in a while, a turd stands out.

And that would be the social media shaming of Geoffrey Owens, a former cast member of The Cosby Show, after he was discovered working at Trader Joe's.

I'd wager the person who “discovered” him was a.) young and b.) sheltered, with a terminal case of helicopter parents. This person has no idea of the struggles and travails life has in store for those of us who make it beyond childhood.

Which is why this person thought it would be funny to post Owens' picture on social media and laugh at his fall from fame and celebrity.

Fame is fickle. Success is fickle. Life is fickle. One minute you're walking along dead positive that life has a beat. The next it's a broken turntable with a tonearm that won't stay in the groove.

I'd like this person to tell me what he or she feels would have been appropriate for Mr. Owens after the acting gigs dried up. Welfare? Meth? Mom's basement?

Geoffrey Owens is doing what he has to do to keep a roof over his head and food on the table. Why is that not respected? Why are we laughing at this?

Is it because we're kept awake at night by the possibility that it could happen to us? Is this the nervous laugh of people so terrified by this outcome since they are—in all likelihood –a single paycheck removed from it themselves?

Or is it the sneering, knee-jerk meanness so many of us require to feel validated in this, the Dark Age of Trump?

When we laugh at a self-sustaining working man doing what he's gotta do to stay in the game, we are in deeper shit than we know.