Politics As Performance Art
Source: Harvard Study Reveals Huge Extent of Anti-Trump Media Bias | Heat Street
The cacophony of shrill voices baying at any and all alleged transgressions by Donald Trump appears to be reaching a final crescendo. The frenzied media are like crows at a picnic as they caw and shriek over every speck of food that appears, no matter how inconsequential. As the linked story reveals, it’s not the imagination of those of us that try to consume news. It should be abundantly clear that the offerings of news from the mainstream outlets are about as unbiased as doting parents at their children’s soccer games.
And speaking of children, the political and media voices that invoke Russia and impeachment like they are hyphenated words are reminiscent of children who have lost an argument but keep repeating their whine as if it will make a difference. The political zeitgeist of the United States has moved strongly from comedy to farce, since now, the loudest and most publicized voices are those of ‘comics’ and entertainers. Think about that. People who are paid to juggle, sing and tell jokes for a living are the go to voices for political opinion. Stephen Colbert as a political savant. Really? That this is the case is simultaneously comical and tragic. Can we imagine the direction of any other nation state being influenced by cultural gadflies?
It’s bad enough that the western system of democracy allows for the election of representatives of truly dubious intellectual capacity but whom nevertheless have risen to the top of their particular constituency. Al Franken’s election was supposedly an aberration, but now, I dunno. Maxine Waters aka Muddy Waters, Raging Waters or Shallow Waters, anything but Deep Waters, sets new low water marks every time she says anything. Barring any outrageously stupid remark from these people, the general public would never hear of them. But because of today’s ubiquity of ‘news’ conduits, both online and mainstream, not to mention airport TV screens, the obtuse and shrill views of a very small few are magnified many times beyond their deserved influence.
The linked article is definitive proof that any objective news reporting by most of the large media concerns has been jettisoned in favor of breathless mean girls style of tabloid coverage. The convergence of objective news and paid for entertainment comedy is on full display. It’s not even news now. It’s all performance art.