The most important thing to remember about so-called “reality” television shows is that they have very little to do with reality. Whether they involve strangers marooned on a desert island, or rich bachelors interviewing prospective wives or a sluttish heiress picking her way around the cow pies on a farm, these programs are contrived, artificial and geared toward audiences that are used to absorbing entertainment without the need for any significant intellectual engagement – rather like drinking beer.
For that matter, rather like our last election. Barack Obama entered the campaign with a lightness of step and a confidence of manner born of a sense of entitlement, and with a shrewd eye turned toward the main chance. Unburdened by any achievements that had not been midwifed by a powerful network of mainstreamed radical academics and Chicago's Democratic Party machine, this man of extremely limited experience, but boundless ego, capitalized on the perfect storm of economic calamity and widespread disenchantment with George Bush that swamped GOP hopes in 2008. He was heaved into the White House by a fearful, emotional and unthinking electorate, where, for the last nine months, he has veered spastically between ill-advised, snap decisions, and languorous irresolution.
And there is a petulance to this president and his advisers that is highly irritating. Because Obama looks upon the presidency as being, primarily, performance art, and he is, after all, the star of this particular program, why should everyone be constantly nagging him about participating in writing the script? In directing the show? “John McCain was voted off the island, and I was the only one who remained. Isn’t that the end?”
Well, no, not for a president. That is the beginning. Winning may be the initial object, but it is not the job. It is a painful truth for one so besotted with the ephemeral adulation that greeted his electoral victory, but Obama cannot expect that the public will permit him to abjure the responsibilities of leadership in order to wallow in self-congratulation for the next three years. That, Mr. President, is the reality.
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That O!bama is still campaigning, 11 months after the election, confirms your analysis, Paco. At least, I can't see how he ISN'T campaigning, not with the constant parade of talk shows, press conferences, advertisements, and so on, all feature The Once™.
ReplyDeleteIt's as though he can't face the reality of being President, and acts as though the Oval Office is Campaign HQ. Which bodes ill for America.
BTW, a minor nitpick -- don't you mean "rather like drinking cheap beer"? Or maybe cheap wine? Some beers do require significant intellectual engagement.
Maybe the "Ripple" or "Brew 102" audience.:)
ReplyDeleteI think that would be performance art via "revolutinary truth". I just heard that phrase the other day. Evidently the left has a new term for lying through your teeth(promises with an expiration date) to advance their position without the need for personal responsibility, always a key component for these brats.
And a very happy Columbus Day to all you RWDB hegemonists out there! Yes, that means you Wron, spicy burritos and all!
“John McCain was voted off the island, and I was the only one who remained. Isn’t that the end?”
ReplyDeleteBINGO! "Who said I have to work at it now?"
BTW, me like beer....lots!, in the words of the great statesman, Homer Simpson
"Mmmmm......Beeer"
Be advised that I have nothing against beer. It's only that we don't put a lot of thought into drinking it (unless one is a connoisseur, which I ain't).
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, a significantly large chunk of the American electorate were poorly served by our Fourth Estate when it came to electing Obama. Why wouldn't you buy into his soaring rhetoric, lofty proimises, and the idea of finally putting our racial divisions behind us, and no one told you that you were getting Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and a whole long line of Communists, socialists, racialists, etc. with the package?
ReplyDeleteThose of us who prowl the internet weren't fooled by this charlatan, but there are huge swaths of the American public who aren't that connected, or if they are, think the likes of Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, The DailyKos and Huffington Post are telling them the God's honest truth.
I include among these uninformed my elderly in-laws, who get their news from the newspaper and the 6PM broadcasts, and who have always voted Democrat because they're "old-style Democrats", as they smilingly inform me. Never mind that the Democratic Party isn't "old-style" anymore. They haven't got a clue, and are completely bewildered by what's happening now: "It must be the Republicans! They're the Party of No!"
It's frustrating in the extreme.
Agree with you about reality TV. I can't stand to watch it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good way to put it. The left loved West Wing and wished it was reality, they longed for Martin Sheen as president. Well they got it: a TV president playing a role rather than doing the job. Too bad the world isn't scripted.
ReplyDeleteBack before the election I had a protest sign with Obie's jug-eared phiz and the caption VOTE FOR SANJAYA.
ReplyDeleteI swear to God I didn't mean it...!
Rebecca, that's true enough, but there are a fair number of people who don't question what they read and see regardless of the source. Worse, they don't want to.
ReplyDeleteThat's the "beer drinking" part of the population Paco referred to. They don't want to think, they want to be entertained, thrilled, and titillated. "Survivor" is more attractive to these sort of people than an intelligent talk show.
The Fourth Estate plays on this weakness, much like the Roman emperors did when they gave Roman citizens bread and circuses. Olby on MSNBC acts like a freaked out moonbat because it grabs the attention of some people. The good news is that his ratings are still below that of Glenn Beck, although it appears that Beck models himself on Olby. Go figure.
What works against the conservative element is the attention span of many people, what I refer to as the "Oooooo! shiny!" syndrome. Who wants a boring discussion when they can watch a spectacle? And God knows the Dhimmicrats produced a lot of spectacles during the 2008 campaign.
Exactly, Jeff. Unfortunately, the spectacle that is coming is going to be incredibly more real than most people can deal with. I'd laugh, except that I have children and grandchildren who will have to survive this crap.
ReplyDeletewhen a dear, like minded friend of mine told me she voted for obama, i said, for heavens sake why? after all i told her about obama, and gave her websites to go read, she and her husband both voted for him. why? because they didnt want any more of bush. i just looked at her and said, bush wasnt running for president *sigh*
ReplyDeleteAwarded the THE SPOT-ON QUOTE OF THE DAY at: TCOTS for taking Little Barry O to the woodshed and doing like The Godfather did to Johnny Fontaine. To sum-up: You can act like a man!
ReplyDelete