Ack. There is no emoticon for what I am feeling right now.

I've been meaning to talk about this since I watched this Sunday's episode of the Simpsons but just haven't taken the time until now. (The quote in the title has nothing to do with this other than that it is from a Simpsons episode, and it makes me laugh.)

It's an interesting thing to see your industry get lambasted on the Simpsons. For those who missed it, a quick recap: Mr. Burns cuts prescription drug benefits at the nuclear plant to save money. Eventually, other organizations follow suit, and essentially no one in Springfield is able to get medicine anymore. Several clips are shown of the response from the medical community on the news, including Dr. Hibbert decked out in all promotional material advertising various drugs. He is eventually joined by a group of women who dance using poles that look like pill bottles and have a pharmaceutical company's name emblazoned across the back of their shorts. Homer and Grampa Simpson go to Canada to smuggle cheap drugs back into the US, but are eventually caught. When Smithers falls ill, Mr. Burns helps get more drugs from Canada (If he cut out the prescription benefits, the drugs are expensive not illegal, so why didn't the billionaire just buy them? Don't ask.) and, finally realizing how important the benefits are, restores prescription drug benefits to all full-time employees. Homer, entering the kitchen at the end of the episode: "Good news, Burns made me a free-lance contractor."

As I've said in both my profile and in earlier entries, I work for a pharmaceutical company. I personally may not have agreed with all the view points in the show, but the bottom line is that it was hilarious. Making fun of my livelihood or not, I laughed at this episode more than many of the recent Simpsons. I love that this show has the ability to use humor to make a point and spark discussion. I love that after all these years, the show is still able to look at our society and satirize some of the most current issues. I love that, even though the main part of the show was talking about drug companies, with the ending they pointed out the flawed HR policies of so many companies in all industries.

Needless to say, the workplace was buzzing on Tuesday (Monday was MLK day, remember?). After talking to several people, it seemed that I wasn't the only one that was more interested in the fact that it was funny than that both sides of the issue weren't addressed.

I won't get into the arguing the merits of the episode. Some things I may agree with, and others not so much. Regardless, I'm not going to sit here and be a pharmaceutical industry apologist. That's neither my style nor my point. I have no problem admitting that things are not perfect, and anyone who would tell you that about his industry would be a fool. Jonathan Swift once said, "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Not so, Jonathan. I looked into that glass, saw my own face, and it was funny.

Until later...