The Age of Dumb
Malcolm X observed on the death of Kennedy that the chickens have come home to roost. Fast forward to present day and we have front and center perhaps the most obnoxious and arrogant ignoramus of our times standing atop the dung heap which is the field of candidates vying for the Republican nomination. It is interesting to note that almost to the one this field is characterized by adherence to so called Christian beliefs and disdain for science. One might legitimately ask how the political landscape has become populated with self-righteous arrogant fools who stand in opposition to any progress the species has made over the centuries.
H. L. Mencken eloquently captured the current phenomenon when he stated, “No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” That a buffoon like Trump can prance into the fray of a presidential election can be attributed to the constant and persistent attempt by the “new right” to shape public opinion by appealing to the basest of human proclivities.
The primary culprit in this mass deception is Roger Ailes and whoever is fronting the money to operate Fox News. Murdoch is likeliest of suspect. Whether he truly believes what is being aired is open to question, but there is no doubt he has a history of making money by exploiting the basest of instincts. Why would his “news” service hack phones to pry into lives of people who possess public appeal? Or worse why would a news organization exploit the death of a young woman? Might he just be running this network for profit knowing all the while that hate exists in vast numbers of people and tapping into it can further his fortune? That his papers employed sex to sell papers speaks to his understanding of human behavior, especially male human behavior. How else can his band of provocateurs espouse hate and bigotry day after day using the weakest of arguments? It isn’t really surprising that so many of his on-air people are mouthing a position that appeals to the worst of our instincts. It is an old white racist philosophy that is triumphed, and key to this philosophy is ignorance and bigotry. It is a way of keeping the exploited at each other’s throats while the moguls continue to rape and pillage the world and its people. Excuse the Marxist interpretation.
What was most amusing is when “The Donald” (only an arrogant asshole would take on that non de plume) pranced onto stage and stole the hearts and the minds of so many who look to Fox News for an affirmation of their fears and biases. That Ms. Kelley, the point person designated to reign in the Monster of Capitalism, was marginalized by a misogynistic slur and rather than Trump’s poll numbers slipping they rose demonstrating that the monster was operating under his own power and no longer needed the juice from the Murdoch laboratory. Flaying away, the monster began to trample on the would be sycophants sending their sorry asses to the shoulders of the Republican highway.
What happened is classic. Fox has been making it respectable to be an asshole bigot. Just look at its team of commentators. To the one, they mouth thinly veiled racist comments as well as advocating the most extreme and nonsensical positions on nearly any and all topics. That Obama is targeted for every ill facing America and the World, and even his family is open to attacks, demonstrates an underlying business model designed to provoke and instill hate. Of course, “The Donald” dropped a monkey wrench into the wheels of newly coined conservatism. This is the underlying magic of Trump. He is not subtle or cajoling. No, he is what he is and what he is is a student of excess and bombast if not the prime master of it.
I do believe that there is a select group of monied people who knew they could buy their way into power. Just look at the Congress. Never have so many fools been elected to do little but to stand about and do nothing. That the economy has been inverted to benefit the haves while the country falls to ruin demonstrates that greed has no limits. That environmental concerns are ridiculed and waste and poisons heralded as good shows that corporate interest has replaced public interest. That (excuse the alarmist if not conspiratorial allusions) moguls now have the power to release capital to shape and form and elect fools demonstrate that the republic is fracturing and perhaps is in its final throes. Trump maybe our salvation for he is beholding to no one. Walker, Huckabee, Bush, Carson, Cruz and all the rest of the assholes might just be coy enough to dupe the public into believing the horseshit philosophies and policies of the new right, but Trump is the logical end of all that bs. He can be a unifying voice in the cacophony that has become the circus of the right He is so blatantly over the top he can only appeal to the most desperate of us. Many have flooded the Republican Party that has decided to go dumb and suckle the rich for money. Trump can capture these folks. Hopefully the rest of us will seize this opportunity and throw out all the mouth breathers who have been polling us to tell us what we wanted to hear while cozying up to those with money.
No comments:
Post a Comment