There’s a scene in the movie The Godfather where two mafia Dons confront each other over the assassination deaths of family members. The meeting was called to bring peace to the warring mafia families. The two aging men look at each other and one of them says, “How did we get to this place?”
How did we get to this place?
We have a con-man leading the free world. Our President is a man with no moral ballast. He lies and cheats and steals and glories in his abuse of people and situations. It’s how he defines himself: by his “victories” over his “foes and enemies.” If you’re not a winner, then you’re a loser. How...simple.
He used to be the standard-holder for the “Lucky Sperm Club.” Now it’s his sons.
I can’t say he’s stupid, because he has figured out a method to use his sociopathy for gain, but he’s not what I’d call intellectually complex. He thinks his hair looks good. That speaks not only to his diminished capacity in decision making, but also reflects the level of denial he maintains [by the nano-second].
And 40% of the American populace is OK with it. A bit over 30% is ecstatic with it.
How did we get to this place?
I was working at a PBS station in 1987 when Reagan’s FCC overturned the Fairness Doctrine (FD). (Was it coincidental that the Fox network was founded in 1986?) The FD was a rule created in 1949 to make sure that political views expressed via mass media -back then: print, film, and radio; television’s power was still minimal at the time- were balanced by counter opinion. If you gave fifteen minutes to the Democratic candidate, then you offered the same amount of time to the Republican one as well.
(Removal of the FD created an interesting situation at the station where I worked. At the time, there was a fringe candidate running for Illinois governor named Lyndon LaRouche -a person who entertained ideas like the Queen of England ran a drug cartel, etc.. Ordinarily, a station would have had to give Mr. LaRouche equal air time with his more traditional opponents. The station was compelled to include him in a televised debate and did not want to do that. Well, after the FCC pulled the teeth out of the FD, the station did not legally have to provide Mr. LaRouche his platform. The station management called his staff and uninvited him. They showed up anyway. There were a lot of pissed-off looking suits in the lobby. They ended up letting him debate after all. He was a kook.)
(My memory of the specifics is undoubtedly way off, but that is what I can recall in my living room right now. Corrections to this first version are, I’m sure, coming very soon.)
After the castration of the FD, right-wing talk radio exploded. Conservative messaging/propaganda could be broadcast all day and all night and never have to offer any dissenting opinion. Morton Downey Jr. and Rush Limbaugh popped up like little fascist mushrooms to give voice to the AOWM (angry, oppressed white man). Being a dick became profitable. Enormously profitable. Rupert Murdoch, the genius alchemist, saw a way to turn male, anglo resentment into gold and launched Fair & Balanced News in 1987. Hating on not-white people made him money. More money than he could ever spend.
And when he dies and goes straight to Hell, Murdoch, as the Betrayer of Mankind, will sit next to Judas Iscariat at the right hand of Satan. I hope his eternal punishment is that he has to watch his own programming, and every time a falsehood or lie is broadcast, he has to kiss a picture of Hillary Clinton.
How did we get to this place?
Newt Gingrich. Smooth-talking, dying-wife-cheating, compulsive-lying asshole. He weaponized name calling. He was one of the founders of “mean speak.” Words as shivs. Your opponent is no longer “honorable.” They’re “weak” and “soft.” Repeat (to the joy of AOWM). Newt, and the self-professed “language genius” Frank Luntz, decided that the best way to appeal to the new Fox demographic was to act and speak like assholes. Compromise, the granular substance of government, became capitulation. Cue the Reagan mantra: government, with its roads, utilities and your grandmother’s Social Security check, really fucking hates you. And wants to give your job to a latin gang member. Courtesy and respect were for pussies. Food chain politics: you were either hunter or prey. How...simple.
How did we get to this place?
My wife is extremely tired of my Jealousy Theory:
(Warning: Broad, biased, offensive generalizations are about to commence. Despise or enjoy.)
I think that the big reason Conservative People (CP) are the way they are is jealousy. They are mad because we Liberal People (LP) have so much more fucking fun. It’s always been this way. LP seek discovery. CP seek control. And our joy in discovery and new stimuli just pisses the shit out of CP. They yearn to have the fun they see us having, but their genetics do not allow them the room to move-with-the-music. I call it the Dance Floor Dynamic. LP do not need to be drunk-wasted to get up on the dance floor. CP typically need 100 ml of ethanol to achieve “relaxed status.” (Ethanol being the only accepted psychotropic for social events, although opioids maintain acceptable status for home buzzing.) LP drink comparable amounts of ethanol, but we don’t need it to dance, we just enjoy the enhancement it provides. LP consume more weed, cocaine, etc. But not much more. I’m not sure if CP consume more meth than LP, but my guess is that a fear-distrust-survival oriented group like meth addicts would skew conservative. Now, where was I? Jealousy. Being an LP is fun. Being a CP is a job. LP fuck more (and in better positions). LP have better parties (we invite not-white people! Who knew they could be so...intelligent). CP fear the not-white. They are stealing the high-wage, lettuce-picking, chicken farm jobs that CP kids deserve when they don’t go to college. LP respect women and view them as equals at all levels of work and pleasure. CP objectify women as fertility vessels unable to make their own decisions. (WHEW! I FEEL BETTER!)
Fold arms across chest, widen stance.
How did we get to this place?
Comments