2 posts tagged “commentary”

So right now "regular voters" are asking questions of politicians on the television. OMFG! Call the internets! Wait, that's YouTube videos-- the very same from the "Person of the Year 2006" in TIME magazine-- ME! Well, not me, but us. We, the scraggly, the confused, the stupid, the rich, the poor, the dull, the savvy...

In other words, anyone who isn't a politician or a journalist. Because, let's face it, they aren't like us. They are Holy Men (and Women). They are special. They are magic (like Jesus and Harry Potter). They make rainbows from farts and shit ambrosia. Yes, we are SO lucky to have them vetting our pedantic, foolhardy questions. So lucky are we to be here on this mudrock with them, for what would we do without their golden light shining through the darkness?

Like a bat takin' a pee.

Yes, the CNN hypemachine is in overdrive tonight, pretending that the YouTube questions, from regular ol' Joe Jackasses like me'n'you is some astounding spectacle without precedent in the history of mankind.

Except, like the dim bulbs that dreamed this up, it isn't. In fact, back in the day politicians regularly were shouted at, spat upon, and, SHOCK asked questions by regular Americans. Even more shocking is that we didn't have Anderson Cooper there to moderate our silliness. Thank you, fourth estate, for saving us from ourselves! Won't someone think of the children???

Didn't we do this already? Town hall anyone? Lyceum? Friggin' whistle-stop tours? Yes, and before that and before that and before that... back in the pre-dawn of man, long before the internet made jackasses relevant, before Anderson coiffed his pearly mane, democracy took root and flourished. It was direct, sometimes ugly, but always relevant.

Now we act like the damn internet is some strange bird from another galaxy. Poke and prod it like the apes in "2001: A Space Odyssey." At least, the media still treats it as such. iCaught! oooo, you too can send in crappy, shaky videos of your friends stealing money! Lame. Look, TV, you are mass media. Enough with the "Daily Web vid" and "Looksee, we surf The Internet too!" Guys, your style guide says to Capitalize the Word Internet as Though It Were Someone's Dad. It isn't. It is internet, and web, and email. Lower case, these are tools. You don't cap hammer do you? English lives, you grow dusty, and pretty soon all we'll need you for are big shows like Lost, BSG and the like. So shut up, quit trying to "get it" like an old man trying to get some college tail, showing up in the freshman courtyard. You're creepin' me out.

And for you journalists still trying to comprehend what BCC: does? I spent 2 years in academentia learning your ways. I've observed you in your habitats. By and large, we may not be smarter than you, but we know a thing or two. And we citizen journalists aren't going to take your demeaning tone any more. Cokie Roberts was on NPR today sniggering her way through this debacle:
"(snicker) Some even wanted to VOTE on what questions were going to be asked tonight!" Direct quote.

This part I just made up (put on your fanciest, haughtiest air here):
"I KNOW, can you just IMAGINE Buffy? I mean it's dreadful, perfectly DREADful that these pissants, these commoners would DARE to address politicians. That's OUR job."

Yeah, you do great work throwing softballs and never asking follow-up questions if you get "the eyebrow"...

Get off your damn high-horse Cokie. We own your ass. Without us, you are nothing. One of my buddies saw you years ago, trying to claim the media doesn't set the agenda for discussion. WTF? Are you that clueless? So those headlines just randomly barf up on the page? What, exactly, do you think digg was set up to counteract? You people and your limited visions. Those who can't DO something, act like fucking journalists.

So yeah, 4th estate, you've been there for us in the past, and you'll maybe stick around a little longer, at least until Murdoch owns everything. But don't be so quick to count out the entire population of the United States. Last time I checked, we were here before you. And student of history that I am, I know that your crowd has seen much better company in the past. Perhaps you'd like to consider rehab? At the very least, stop to sign an autograph once in a while. I still can't shake that evil look Anderson shot me while sitting in Sushi Samba that morning-- get over it dude, you pull your pants up like the rest of us. Only with gold hooks I guess.

Wow. 'Studio 60' just keeps getting worse. I have a love/hate relationship with the show. On the one hand, I find Sorkin's abilities questionable at best, his motives suspect. I also think he interjects a certain level of thought into his product, which counts for something...

Then there's the show itself. After succumbing to the easy jokes-- poking fun at religious extremism, easy as shooting fish in a barrel-- '60' is now just repeatedly jumping over sharks to stab at jellyfish.

I quit tuning in regularly after Jon Goodman appeared. The whole "we're stuck in the stix where no one appreciates our liberal humor" bit has been done for ages. Since, like, forever. I'm serious. This is a play off the city mouse/country mouse, or fish-out-of-water stories that made the careers of folks like The Marx Bros. and Abott and Costello. Here it was ham-fisted and ugly. One actor shoring up an entire show? Gimme a break. Only maybe Eddie Murphy in his last season on SNL would this have happened. Certainly not today... But I guess I should suspend my disbelief.

So I tune in tonight because there's really nothing else on... Now they are heaping it on. All the writers have quit. There's a storm. Everyone gets sick. Peet's character is still getting her come-uppance (quit with this angle, OK Aaron? we get it, glass ceiling, harhar, OK, stop)... [SPOILER ALERT] and Peet's character winds up preggers.

Eh wot? That's so lame. Aaron has turned '60' more into Soapbox 60, and, as always happens when entertainment finds a conscience, the end result is neither fun, thoughtful, or provoking. Please funnel all this studio money into '30 Rock,' which is a genuinely funny show, in the spirit of classic sitcoms, and conjures up thoughts of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' to me.