The Right has it with the “mainstream media” and the Left has it with “conservative talk show hosts”. In the theater of politics, there is always the good guy and the eeeeeeeevil bad guy.
What I will never understand is why there is this obsession to keep talking about those who are routinely deemed as insignificant. Both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton hold no real power in the Black community, yet it seems that their actions are worthy of discussion–on purpose. On the other hand you have Black conservative commentators like Jesse Lee Peterson, Larry Elder, Star Parker, etc. whose commentaries are routinely dissected, analyzed and of course criticized by some of the most staunchest critics out there. If these people are so insignificant and so off the mark, why give them so much attention?
If you check out one of my favorite websites (Booker Rising), you will see how the so-called “insignificant” and off-the- mark commentators have a regular following of critics who will spend hours slamming and bashing these conservative and moderate commentators from around the net and the greater media world. Make a big deal about this fact and critics just salivate over the opportunity where they can backslap conservatives with one of their own popular sayings: “Stop playing the victim”. In other words, “Shut up! Can’t you see I need another hit?” In the end, it makes for great web traffic and interesting reading. But I still often wonder why some are so obsessed by those they claim offend them. So far, the only word that comes to mind is “addiction”.
Lou Dobbs was already on one of the lowest rated, least watched cable networks. But his commentary on both illegal immigration and the free market drove his critics wild. Each night, his critics would hang onto his every word waiting to hear something that they can take out of context and/or blog about, post on Twitter or Facebook the next day. So once again, here we have a person who is deemed as “insignificant”, yet his thoughts and opinions were worthy enough for daily inspection by his critics. A fellow writer I know who is no fan of Dobbs recently did a write up on the former cable news host asking the question “What was the real reason behind his departure?” Why should you care if his opinions mean nothing to you? With Dobbs out of the picture, will the anti-Dobbs fan base continue to watch CNN? Or will they just fold into the FOX viewership pool where they can spend more hours watching and criticizing bad commentators?
Same goes for Sarah Palin. If she is nothing more than a twit, idiot and one who should just stick to hunting moose, why continue to talk about her every move? Why help push her book to a #1 status on Amazon BEFORE THE THING WAS ACTUALLY RELEASED? Rush Limbaugh? His audience isn’t exclusively comprised of far right “extremists”. And when one of his critics actually admits to listening to Rush, it’s usually a watered down response: “I check him out from time to time.”
For my friends on the Right, same thing. If the thoughts of Katie Couric, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Bill Maher, David Letterman and any other left leaning television host are so insignificant and non-important, why continue to talk about them on the regular? While in many cases their ratings may totally suck, all this constant nitpicking of what they said last night keeps them significant.
Maybe we should think about creating a 12-step program over this.
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The Need For A Devil
by Duane on November 13th, 2009 at 9:09 amThe Right has it with the “mainstream media” and the Left has it with “conservative talk show hosts”. In the theater of politics, there is always the good guy and the eeeeeeeevil bad guy.
What I will never understand is why there is this obsession to keep talking about those who are routinely deemed as insignificant. Both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton hold no real power in the Black community, yet it seems that their actions are worthy of discussion–on purpose. On the other hand you have Black conservative commentators like Jesse Lee Peterson, Larry Elder, Star Parker, etc. whose commentaries are routinely dissected, analyzed and of course criticized by some of the most staunchest critics out there. If these people are so insignificant and so off the mark, why give them so much attention?
If you check out one of my favorite websites (Booker Rising), you will see how the so-called “insignificant” and off-the- mark commentators have a regular following of critics who will spend hours slamming and bashing these conservative and moderate commentators from around the net and the greater media world. Make a big deal about this fact and critics just salivate over the opportunity where they can backslap conservatives with one of their own popular sayings: “Stop playing the victim”. In other words, “Shut up! Can’t you see I need another hit?” In the end, it makes for great web traffic and interesting reading. But I still often wonder why some are so obsessed by those they claim offend them. So far, the only word that comes to mind is “addiction”.
Lou Dobbs was already on one of the lowest rated, least watched cable networks. But his commentary on both illegal immigration and the free market drove his critics wild. Each night, his critics would hang onto his every word waiting to hear something that they can take out of context and/or blog about, post on Twitter or Facebook the next day. So once again, here we have a person who is deemed as “insignificant”, yet his thoughts and opinions were worthy enough for daily inspection by his critics. A fellow writer I know who is no fan of Dobbs recently did a write up on the former cable news host asking the question “What was the real reason behind his departure?” Why should you care if his opinions mean nothing to you? With Dobbs out of the picture, will the anti-Dobbs fan base continue to watch CNN? Or will they just fold into the FOX viewership pool where they can spend more hours watching and criticizing bad commentators?
Same goes for Sarah Palin. If she is nothing more than a twit, idiot and one who should just stick to hunting moose, why continue to talk about her every move? Why help push her book to a #1 status on Amazon BEFORE THE THING WAS ACTUALLY RELEASED? Rush Limbaugh? His audience isn’t exclusively comprised of far right “extremists”. And when one of his critics actually admits to listening to Rush, it’s usually a watered down response: “I check him out from time to time.”
For my friends on the Right, same thing. If the thoughts of Katie Couric, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Bill Maher, David Letterman and any other left leaning television host are so insignificant and non-important, why continue to talk about them on the regular? While in many cases their ratings may totally suck, all this constant nitpicking of what they said last night keeps them significant.
Maybe we should think about creating a 12-step program over this.
Sphere: Related Content