Wednesday Morning Rant

The rabid insanity and stupidity of America's news personalities is hard to overstate. The common refrain of "however much you hate journalists, you don't hate them enough" is fair enough, but it is too limiting. "However insane you think journalists are, they're far crazier" is equally applicable. So is, "however stupid you think journalists are, they're far stupider."

Although it's a bit like sand-blasting a soup cracker to user her as an example, Rachel Maddow continues to prove all three points simultaneously. In keeping with the Press' fascination with itself, CNN's "Reliable Sources with Oliver Darcy" (did you know they resurrected the name after they got rid of The Tater? They did. Now it's a newsletter that nobody reads) interviewed Maddow recently. There is nothing journalists like more than "making news" with other journalists. This kind of navel-gazing used to be frowned upon, but journalists interviewing journalists is the height of journalistic production here in Clown Universe.

The interview was a gift to her from CNN to help her promote her podcast. Of course. Everybody has a podcast. On hers, Maddow brings her towering intellect to bear on "the frayed line between violent extremism and mainstream politics." Fascinating stuff, I'm sure.

Maddow highlights how self-impressed journalists are throughout the interview. It's a somewhat interesting read that you should check out, if only as an amateur anthropologist. Journalists are, of course, heroes who must make lightning decisions in the moment to ensure that truth and justice prevail and that people think the right things:

... we all face that question in daily news production every day: do I ignore this lie, thus letting it slide by unrebutted; or do I discuss the lie, thereby debunking it but also implicitly amplifying it in the process? There isn't a one-sized-fits-all solution for every lie. But knowing that the avalanche of lies is a political tactic at least helps us expect it, and hopefully to explain its tactical function to our audiences. Forewarned is forearmed.

If you guessed, "go on hysterical tirades about Donald Trump," go collect your winnings. I'm not going to pay them, but somebody surely will. The Oracle of MSNBC, the brilliant prognosticator, the mental giant knows precisely what is going to happen:

I'm worried about the country broadly if we put someone in power who is openly avowing that he plans to build camps to hold millions of people, and to "root out" what he's described in subhuman terms as his "enemy from within." ...
...
When Trump invokes the Insurrection Act to deploy the U.S. military against civilians on his first day in office, do you think he then rescinds the order on day two?

For that matter, what convinces you that these massive camps he's planning are only for migrants?

So, yes, I'm worried about me -- but only as much as I'm worried about all of us.

Maddow is stupider and crazier than average even among her peers, but she is not really exceptional. This is contemporary American journalism. She could be their totem animal. They are all Rachel Maddow.

posted by Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

| Access Comments