Joe Cooper
2016-09-22 14:29:59 UTC
If you wrote the story of this election as fiction two years ago, your
publisher would demand it be called a farce. If you had a vision of this
election 20 years ago and told anyone about it, you would be
institutionalized to this day. Even now, in the midst of it all, much of
the 2016 presidential election reads as parody. And the media coverage is
the tip of that absurdist spear aiming for the heart of reality.
The media loves nothing like it loves itself. With the possible exception
of Hollywood, no industry awards itself more for doing what it is paid to
do. Its hard to find any reporter with experience who wasnt at least
nominated for some meaningless award at some point. Many of them proudly
list their Somebody Or Other Youve Never Heard Of Award nominations or
victories in their bios.
None of that has any bearing on how well they do what is supposed to be
their jobs informing the public. Its more of a measure of how much
space they happen to occupy in the heads of their fellow reporters at the
time of the voting. Theres a reason studios release movies considered to
be Oscar contenders at the end of the year and not earlier.
Presidential elections are Oscar season for journalists. The rush to get
a scoop or a first interview with someone of note can lead to TV
appearances, awards, book deals or jobs in the incoming administration.
Journalism has gone from a career to a stepping-stone.
Maybe thats why so many are spending less time reporting and more time
campaigning for Hillary Clinton. She is, after all, going to need a press
secretary and speechwriters. People who hold those jobs, especially for
Democrats, get sweet jobs in the private sector when they leave. Its
pretty easy to not give a damn that Social Security is going broke if
youve got seven figures in stock options and salary waiting for you in
Silicon Valley.
This jockeying for position was on display this week in a new and
creatively pathetic way Skittles.
How does candy figure in to a presidential campaign? It doesnt, really.
But when youre desperate, you make it up.
Cant blame journalists, really. They poll just below Zika in popularity,
and media outlets are shrinking not just in influence but in staff. For
many, a position in a Clinton administration is their last hope before
being forced to try to find a real job in President Obamas awful economy
theyve been spinning as a smashing success. The prospect must scare the
hell out of them.
To avoid the fate of Americans in flyover country, a little pride (and
dignity) must be swallowed.
So journalists found outrage in an accurate analogy.
As youve undoubtedly heard by now, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a meme
reading If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill
you. Would you take a handful? Thats our Syrian refugee problem.
The only way to not understand that is to be deliberately obtuse. Or a
hack with press credentials.
All the presses stopped and all the teleprompters had to be reloaded
because people who make a living being offended were offended.
Refugee are not candy! was the basic response. It had to be, because
the alternative would be to acknowledge we have absolutely no way of
knowing if Syrian refugees are who they say they are, let alone if they
have ties to terrorist groups. It is impossible.
But you cant report that because it doesnt help Democrats. And you
cant ignore the meme because it puts a complex issue progressives are
trying to muddy in crystal clear terms.
Out came the stupid.
Our tax dollar, er, I mean National Public Radio (same difference),
reported the tweet drew condemnation from many who viewed the tweet as
a flip, dehumanizing way to address a humanitarian catastrophe affecting
more than 13 million people.
Nothing in the piece about the wannabe professional golfer overseeing US
foreign policy ... the guy who putted while drawing and erasing red
lines as that humanitarian catastrophe came into being. Nope, just the
faux outrage.
Nearly every media outlet followed suit, because collectives dont
question, they act. If one competitor is going to have something on the
resume, youd damn well better have it too!
Meanwhile, the three broadcast networks devoted a total of 12 seconds to
the Obama administration mistakenly granting citizenship to criminal
illegal aliens slated for deportation. Maybe if theyd been eating
Skittles
As if more was needed, note the lack of outrage just two years ago when
the exact same analogy was used about men. It was OK then because it was
used by feminists to smear 10 percent of men as monsters. (And it used
M&Ms, a far superior candy to Skittles.)
No outcry, no presses stopped, only a narrative to advance. Weird, right?
We even now know the man who took the picture of the bowl of Skittles was
a refugee from Greece to the UK when he was a child, like it matters.
Anything to avoid the actual point.
Expect more of this between now and November. A lot more. The
alternatives would be covering Hillary Clinton like honest journalists or
facing a tough job market with nothing but merit and a box of office
supplies and Lucite block awards with their name engraved in them.
Source: http://bit.ly/2cTIITg
--
"You want to talk about deplorable, then how about the lower half of
white America that has been paying for the liberal agenda for the last
half century not in taxes, but in diminished lives, so that liberals
could pat themselves on the back for their compassion and their
passionate activism." Democrat-owned media has tried desperately to hide;
that the Democratic Party is not a political party but a crime cartel
peddling lies, trading influence for dollars, and crushing the
aspirations of anyone stupid enough to actually believe in it."
(Christopher Chantrill)
publisher would demand it be called a farce. If you had a vision of this
election 20 years ago and told anyone about it, you would be
institutionalized to this day. Even now, in the midst of it all, much of
the 2016 presidential election reads as parody. And the media coverage is
the tip of that absurdist spear aiming for the heart of reality.
The media loves nothing like it loves itself. With the possible exception
of Hollywood, no industry awards itself more for doing what it is paid to
do. Its hard to find any reporter with experience who wasnt at least
nominated for some meaningless award at some point. Many of them proudly
list their Somebody Or Other Youve Never Heard Of Award nominations or
victories in their bios.
None of that has any bearing on how well they do what is supposed to be
their jobs informing the public. Its more of a measure of how much
space they happen to occupy in the heads of their fellow reporters at the
time of the voting. Theres a reason studios release movies considered to
be Oscar contenders at the end of the year and not earlier.
Presidential elections are Oscar season for journalists. The rush to get
a scoop or a first interview with someone of note can lead to TV
appearances, awards, book deals or jobs in the incoming administration.
Journalism has gone from a career to a stepping-stone.
Maybe thats why so many are spending less time reporting and more time
campaigning for Hillary Clinton. She is, after all, going to need a press
secretary and speechwriters. People who hold those jobs, especially for
Democrats, get sweet jobs in the private sector when they leave. Its
pretty easy to not give a damn that Social Security is going broke if
youve got seven figures in stock options and salary waiting for you in
Silicon Valley.
This jockeying for position was on display this week in a new and
creatively pathetic way Skittles.
How does candy figure in to a presidential campaign? It doesnt, really.
But when youre desperate, you make it up.
Cant blame journalists, really. They poll just below Zika in popularity,
and media outlets are shrinking not just in influence but in staff. For
many, a position in a Clinton administration is their last hope before
being forced to try to find a real job in President Obamas awful economy
theyve been spinning as a smashing success. The prospect must scare the
hell out of them.
To avoid the fate of Americans in flyover country, a little pride (and
dignity) must be swallowed.
So journalists found outrage in an accurate analogy.
As youve undoubtedly heard by now, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a meme
reading If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill
you. Would you take a handful? Thats our Syrian refugee problem.
The only way to not understand that is to be deliberately obtuse. Or a
hack with press credentials.
All the presses stopped and all the teleprompters had to be reloaded
because people who make a living being offended were offended.
Refugee are not candy! was the basic response. It had to be, because
the alternative would be to acknowledge we have absolutely no way of
knowing if Syrian refugees are who they say they are, let alone if they
have ties to terrorist groups. It is impossible.
But you cant report that because it doesnt help Democrats. And you
cant ignore the meme because it puts a complex issue progressives are
trying to muddy in crystal clear terms.
Out came the stupid.
Our tax dollar, er, I mean National Public Radio (same difference),
reported the tweet drew condemnation from many who viewed the tweet as
a flip, dehumanizing way to address a humanitarian catastrophe affecting
more than 13 million people.
Nothing in the piece about the wannabe professional golfer overseeing US
foreign policy ... the guy who putted while drawing and erasing red
lines as that humanitarian catastrophe came into being. Nope, just the
faux outrage.
Nearly every media outlet followed suit, because collectives dont
question, they act. If one competitor is going to have something on the
resume, youd damn well better have it too!
Meanwhile, the three broadcast networks devoted a total of 12 seconds to
the Obama administration mistakenly granting citizenship to criminal
illegal aliens slated for deportation. Maybe if theyd been eating
Skittles
As if more was needed, note the lack of outrage just two years ago when
the exact same analogy was used about men. It was OK then because it was
used by feminists to smear 10 percent of men as monsters. (And it used
M&Ms, a far superior candy to Skittles.)
No outcry, no presses stopped, only a narrative to advance. Weird, right?
We even now know the man who took the picture of the bowl of Skittles was
a refugee from Greece to the UK when he was a child, like it matters.
Anything to avoid the actual point.
Expect more of this between now and November. A lot more. The
alternatives would be covering Hillary Clinton like honest journalists or
facing a tough job market with nothing but merit and a box of office
supplies and Lucite block awards with their name engraved in them.
Source: http://bit.ly/2cTIITg
--
"You want to talk about deplorable, then how about the lower half of
white America that has been paying for the liberal agenda for the last
half century not in taxes, but in diminished lives, so that liberals
could pat themselves on the back for their compassion and their
passionate activism." Democrat-owned media has tried desperately to hide;
that the Democratic Party is not a political party but a crime cartel
peddling lies, trading influence for dollars, and crushing the
aspirations of anyone stupid enough to actually believe in it."
(Christopher Chantrill)