by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
A friend forwarded an article from Newsweek this morning focusing on what appeared to be some contradictory positions held by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. The congresswoman, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, had gone to Smyrna, Georgia, earlier this week with a few other members of Congress to observe (oversee) an Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco (ATF) inspection of what is billed as the "world's largest gun store." While there she had apparently questioned (harassed?) the sixteen federal agents who were conducting the inspection, and then reported - via Twitter - that they were from such faraway places as Los Angeles and San Francisco. The unspoken message to her supporters was "here is big government raining down on your God-given right to own as many guns as you can fit in your trailer." Then, after yesterday's awful school shooting in Nashville in which three nine-year-olds were murdered - along with three adults in their sixties - Greene, the staunch pro-gun advocate, was quick to blame President Biden for not protecting the school children.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Marge!
Contradiction and dangerous nonsense - but it was plenty to get me thinking about the controversial legislator. I am not a fan, so my thoughts were not of a positive nature, but plenty of her supporters also read the same story - or variations - in the national press, and were impressed by her stagecraft and chutzpah. Marge had communicated strength and resolve to the people who mattered to her. She had spread her name and fame, and reinforced herself in right-wing America by winning that news cycle.
Then, with that awfulness still in my head, I stopped by MSNBC on the internet and came across an editorial by Jacques Berlinerblau who was writing about Trump's new political anthem - "Justice for All" - a political hodgepodge of propaganda that he debuted at his Waco Rally on Saturday. The writer stressed the importance of not dismissing political gimmicks and stunts as unimportant or irrelevant, but to remember that they still warm the hearts of his supporters - and that they do serve as news diversions which the press runs to cover. And by drawing massive amounts of attention, stunts and gimmicks win news cycles.
Some might argue that in America we have a limited tolerance of policy discussion and the more mundane aspects of governance, but lob a piece of red meat our way and we are all over it. We don't want to be educated as much as we want to be entertained - and Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene are entertaining while playing to humanity's basest instincts - racism, homophobia, greed, and violence - and making their supporters feel good about their darker urges. And with each stunt, gimmick, or spectacular lie that those political charlatans unleash on America, they capture another news cycle and spread their name and fame - while also spreading journalism's shame.
Trump's anthem, "Justice for All," referenced above, is credited to "Donald J. Trump and the J6 Choir."
I've not bothered to listen to it, but according to the MSNBC commentator, Jacques Berlinerblau, a group of supposed insurrectionists who are currently housed in the DC jail recorded the "Star-Spangled Banner" on a cell phone, and then the song was interspersed with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. In commenting on the importance of not dismissing the piece of propaganda as just a low quality stunt, Mr. Berlinerblau offered this assessment:
"Is it art? At this point it really doesn't matter. Given the reach and pervasiveness of ultraconservative creative expression, it is extremely dangerous. The MAGA juggernaut is built (and funded) to dominate every single news cycle. The operation is structured to fling more outrageous content at the country in one day than it can possibly process in a year. If 'the cruelty is the point,' then saturation is the delivery mechanism."
They keep flinging, we keep reacting, and before you know it the Oval Office is once again awash in Big Macs!
Winning news cycles is an art, albeit a damned low art, and Republicans are its master. They fling crap, and the press grabs it up and flings it again.
It's a nasty business.
No comments:
Post a Comment