Political Theatre category archive
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Robert Reich reflects of the new Gilded Age and the two persons who most personify it. A snippet:
But both represent the emergence of a particularly American personality in the early years of the twenty-first century: the wildly disruptive narcissist. Both wield sledge hammers to protect their fragile egos. Both are utterly lacking in empathy. Both lie, and push baseless conspiracy theories (such as the one cooked up about Paul Pelosi).
And both are indefatigable self-promoters.
Both are billionaires but they are not motivated primarily by money. Nor are they fueled by any larger purpose, principle, or ideology. Their singular goal is to imprint their giant egos on everyone else — to exercise raw power over people. To make others grovel.
The Echo Chamber 0
Sam and his crew discuss the transitory nature of Republican introspection.
The Pity Party 0
All the News that Fits, It’s Bubblicious Dept. 0
Sam and a caller discuss the right-wing news bubble and confirmation bias.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Noz sums up his sojourn on Trump’s Truth (sic) Social.
A Faustian Bargain 0
Shorter Melinda Henneberger to Kevin McCarthy: Be careful what you sell your soul wish for.
Both Sides Don’t 0
Methinks she has a point. And I think that the female commentator’s (I don’t know her name) comment at the end of the clip that AOC’s comments were “interesting” were (looking for words) appallingly stupid.
It’s quite clear that one thing is not like the other thing.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
The flaw in the bothsiderism that characterizes much of our political reporting, especially on television and most especially on cable news (don’t get me started on AM talk radio), is quite simple.
It ignores facts.
It equates minor misdemeanors with felonies, missteps with malevolence, unintentional and quite human gaffes with poisonous perfidy. It pretends that our home-grown fascists are merely dissatisfied dissidents and ignores their inimical intent. It values ratings over rights, and it values ratings over right.
Facts can be dull and convoluted; they can seem boring; and they don’t get ratings. In contrast, the horse race can be (portrayed as) exciting. The fact of the matter (ahem!), though, is that reporting should be about facts, not about what-ifs and horse races (unless they are real horse races with real horses, but that’s what racing forms are for, which reminds me that I once hit an exacta at Delaware Park–but that’s another story).
We should value the news providers that focus on facts and disdain contemn those who do not, because they are contemptible.
I could go on, but I won’t. But there’s a reason I stopped watching television news (mumble) years ago. When it stopped being a loss leader and a public service and became a profit center, it–er–descended into Hades.
Video via C&L, which has commentary.
Corralling the Crazy 0
The moral of the story is simple. Don’t vote for stupid.
Know Them by the Company They Keep 0
The Des Moines Register’s Rekha Basu argues that Iowa’s Senator Grassley is running with the wrong crowd.
