The most valid complaint, in my opinion, is that there are too damned many talking heads. "Why," my friends ask, "does CNN have the same panel of 'experts' discuss every news item? Who do they think they are, the Doctors Who?" These so-called experts are secretly just intelligent people who read the news and can be expected to faithfully maintain a persona and ideological stance.
Sometimes those personas run wild.
"Who's Roland Martin?" Now we know.
Roland Martin's ascot was the stroke of genius that transformed him from CNN panel set piece to object briefly worth our attention. Martin isn't charismatic or intelligent enough to stay in the spotlight–– unlike Anderson Cooper, he can't use his elvish good looks to conduct pathos like gold wire conducts electricity––but for just a moment, he had the courage and ingenuity to break away from the pack.
Fox News has the blessing (and burden) of having a single political viewpoint, and has largely dispensed with the farce of trying to give the proverbial both sides of the story. Sure, guys like Karl Rove, Mike Huckabee and Larry Miller will do the rounds of Fox's news analysis shows and occasionally get themselves elevated to shows of their own, but Fox has had to mix it up by recruiting commentators from right-wing think tanks, and that has meant exposing viewers to a diverse set of conservative viewpoints––a necessary evil Fox News wants desperately to dispense with.
Enter Donald Trump. Fox has long sought a truth-teller who has the credentials and stupidity to appear credible without delving into any sort of nuance. He paints his opinions in broad strokes, freeing his hosts to ask him questions about anything at any time without fear of stumping him or tangents.
Even better, he's allowed to say crazy things like, "Our country is blowing up," with impunity because nobody expects Donald Trump to be anybody but Donald Trump.
But the best part is all those shots of Sean Hannity barely upholding the social contract. It's his show, and sometimes he has to ask a question or assert himself, but Hannity is realizing what the rest of Fox already knows: If you invite Donald Trump onto your show, your only obligation is to make eye contact.
Sean Hannity lets the Trumpster do the editorializing for him
Americans love winners, and Trump has long been perceived as one: He's allowed to say crazy things, he marries top shelf supermodels, and he has a haircut that only the rich and famous could possibly pull off. A real estate magnate, he's a one-trick pony who has managed to fail at the most fool-proof industry of all, gambling. A self-proclaimed billionaire, he will viciously sue anyone who suggests otherwise to protect the veneer of his fabulous wealth.
He is, in short, the perfect Fox guest. He's greedy, he's brash, he's conservative, and people seem to like him for it––never mind that he's a Birther whose political knowledge is informed exclusively by the news network on which he regularly appears. So while Roland Martin has to pull out an ascot to rise above the din of the other stock CNN personalities, all Donald Trump has to do is be himself.
Conservatives have long prized unity and cohesion, but the Tea Party's frightening anti-establishment views have frightened mainstream Republicans. What Fox seems to be realizing is that even among adherents to the political philosophy that the solution to all our ills is to cut taxes, there are still too many ideas and perspectives to hold that movement together. Fox's reaction has been to use the narrowest possible set of ideas and perspectives to deliver the news in the most ideologically consistent possible way.
"Conservative" and the Eleventh Commandment just don't cut it anymore. Just look at the media blackout of Ron Paul during his presidential campaign.
Who's Ron Paul?
Ron Paul is a hardcore libertarian with an ideologically consistent plan for America. Regardless of whether or not you think that plan's correct, you have to hand it to the guy: He was Tea Party before Tea Partying was cool. Being a libertarian means decriminalizing drugs and allowing gay marriage and no longer pushing American military might abroad. So while Sarah Palin and Rick Perry are objectively idiots, at least they don't alienate wealthy Christian conservatives or big business. Letting Ron Paul into the Big Tent means pushing a lot of conservatives out.
I predict that Fox's strategy of ideological exclusion will eventually achieve Stalinism. Spouting politically conservative theory on Fox News must inevitably become taboo because talking about what viewers have already internalized opens theory up for interpretation––and therefore difference of opinion.
Making the rounds on the Internet is a Fox Business segment about the new Muppets movie brainwashing young people. The plot of the film is that the Muppets have been displaced from their studio because some tycoon has discovered oil under it. Using this as a plot device has ignited canned indignation over liberal media conditioning.
It's precisely this kind of commentary that will disappear from Fox News.
"Liberal Hollywood depicting a successful businessman as evil––that's nothing new" is all he had to say!
All this says a lot about who Fox feels its audience is––and what that audience will eventually become. At some point, it will no longer need to be reminded of how to interpret the news, and like Donald Trump, it will be relied upon to respond to the news predictably.
The other day I went to my neighbor's house and ended up watching Sean Hannity's Donald Trump interview. I was shocked when my neighbor, a nice guy and definitely-not-stupid person, told me how much he respected Donald Trump. Today's conservative no longer values goodness, competence or intelligence the way he used to––those values have been replaced by a single one, success.
My hope is, Fox's programming will evolve to the point that hosts and even the news can be done away with entirely. Instead, images of good things will be accompanied by images of beautiful women or steaming piles of food, and those of bad things will be accompanied by steaming piles of shit.
Maybe that isn't too far off.
No comments:
Post a Comment