As IF Times

link AOL INSIDER: Here Are 12 Reasons Why The AOL-Huffington Post Merger Is Going Down In Flames AOL.

Future business and culture students will be dissecting this for years.  In the annals of business combinations, this isn’t exactly merging chocolate with peanut butter.  As we have commented earlier,  http://asiftimes.com/2011/04/12/i-thought-we-were-friends/  the idea that AOL had to hitch their  name brand wagon, albeit a fading one,  to that of a cult graffiti blog was ill conceived at best and epic in stupidity at worst.   As this article seems to show, the only ones who couldn’t see this disaster coming was the guy running AOL, CEO Tim Armstrong.

Absent a bailout from government, this exercise will be a clinical demonstration of the mechanics of capitalism.  Someone comes up with a ‘brilliant’ idea, spends money to forward it and then, when it turns out to have no basis in business sense at all, collapses, or will collapse and everyone loses money.  That’s the way it is.  Of course, someone’s going to make some money out of this; someone always does.  There will be two conspicuous losers.  Obviously, the investors in the failed enterprise lose and secondly, the architect of the fiasco, Armstrong, who will likely have trouble convincing people that he can run a lemonade stand in the future.  Even now, his old business school is scrambling to take down any pictures and evidence of his attendance there and working on a public denial.  

Assuming there was a business model to be acquired beyond the siren call of Arianna Huffington’s annoying personality, the spending of over $300 million dollars of other people’s money must have accomplished something.  Turns out the simple answer is NOT.  Upon closer inspection,  the juvenile and crass scratchings of the Post scribers were not just part of the package, they WERE the package. Having a byline on the Post was the equivalent of flashing your breasts during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Discovering that the contributors to the Post had as much contempt and hatred for their fellow staffers as for sane people must have been a jolt however.   OH NO!!  Maybe Armstrong made the deal after the 4th martini during a 5 martini lunch when anything would have sounded reasonable.  I’m sure he now feels like the guy in the Vegas commercials who wakes up in the morning with tattoos and nipple rings on his body. 

Ironically, Arianna, despite her anti-capitalist and anti-American sensibilities has realized the quintessential American dream.  You can’t make this up.

link The Clicker – How does Oprahs farewell compare to other TV greats?.

Please, please, enough already.  The long kiss goodbye is nauseating.  It’s not as if Oprah is hanging them up never to be seen again.  She’ s moving on to her very own TV network.  The whole bandwagon is just moving down the block.  With all the sobbing and crying, you’d think Kleenex is a sponsor of the show.

For reasons mysterious to me, Oprah was able to establish herself as the indisputable icon of daytime TV.  As one writer coined it, she brought weepy emotionalism to the mainstream, in particular hooking white, middle aged women into her shtick  of empathy TV.  Her struggles with her own weight alone was enough to draw in a sympathetic audience.  By virtue of her hold on this female demographic, she wound up influencing the other big demographic, the women’s husbands.  Because of this derivative leverage, Oprah’s influence on America was undeniably immense.  In American homes every night, husbands were exposed to “Oprah said this about …” whatever the issue was.

In some ways, Oprah became Mr. Rogers for adults.  Years ago, Mr. Rogers hosted a relatively banal children’s show which had at its core, one consistent theme.  That was, you are special and no one is like you.  That was the underlying appeal of the show, children were subtly coerced to have a high sense of self worth.  Certainly a good message for impressionable children.  Oprah carried this idea to the next level.  Her theme was consistently, I’m OK, you’re OK as well as the notion of recovery from emotional pain.  Who knew that so many people could identify with personal redemption?  Emotional navel gazing became a national obsession.  But it also meant that every fringe personality or lifestyle received validation and blessing from her as well.  Any book authored with compelling personal stories became instant best sellers.   Unfortunately, this gave rise to charlatans and con men who tried to tap into this commercial lotto ticket by being featured on her show.  James Frey and Margaret B. Jones are examples of authors who fabricated heart wrenching stories to be featured on Oprah.

While embarrassing, these missteps didn’t matter to the loyal fans who are generally pre-disposed to tear jerkers.  It’s a certainty she would have been acclaimed as President if she ran, but instead she anointed another.  No one can deny the influence of Oprah on the election of Obama.  But enough is enough. After 25 years of emotional blood letting, it’s time to move on as did the kids who grew up with Mr. Rogers.  You can’t cry all the time.