Bob Somerby rules
For sane people, Bush’s destruction of the known world has put some dents in this mindless narrative, in which we’re asked to select our president based on who was dumber in high school—based on who we think would be fun to drink beer with. But the world is full of people like Garrigan, people who live to recommend presidents because they were “underachievers� and “clowns.� And at its upper end, the press corps is full of people like Susan Glasser, the appalling Gore-trasher—and now, Outlook editor—who keeps putting this absolute nonsense in print even after the downfall of Bush.
Even now, after Bush has destroyed the known world, the Washington Post still likes to tell readers: You should pick the hopeful who seems to be fun. Readers, please: Just vote for Stupid!
Whole thing, read the.
Yep yep yep. Amurricans lurve them some stoopit. Makes ’em feel like they can talk smart outta them purrty mouths. We venerate jocks, glorify dunces, revel in ignorance and wishful thinking, and treat intelligent people like complete shit. (They don’t bully idiots in school!) It’s been a hardcore part of our culture for a long, long time.
And those who aren’t born stupid tend to be undereducated and misinformed instead—the classic “same difference.” And most of the rest couldn’t give flying fuck.
Tell me about it!
Nice piece, but wait. It says–
“When a middle-class democracy has a multimillionaire press corps, this is what will always happen; you will always get mindless “road-killâ€? jibes aimed at the leaders of the more liberal party. Brilliant guys will get trashed for seeming too smart; big, dumb rubes will get praised for their dumbness.”
“multimillionaire press corps”? Not so sure about that. Rather, Glasser’s idiotic profile of Thompson would be pretty unimaginable if he weren’t a regular on Law & Order (original recipe), where he regularly plays a single note (canny homespun legal moralist), using down-home common sense and the occasional quote from the classics to prick the ballooning theorizing of fancy-pants liberal Jack McCoy.
Yeah, block that metaphor, but still. Glasser may be an imbecile but I doubt she’s a multimillionaire.
The Daily Howler was the first blog I ever bookmarked, back in 1999.
Somerby’s multimillionaire pundits are the ones on TV hawking books and who get large speaking fees and have homes on Cape Cod, the Hamptons, etc. His point has been that they are increasingly out of touch, and less sympathetic, with concerns of middle class Americans.
man… The Howler is depressing. when i read his critiques i feel like there’s no hope at all for this country. Somerby does a great public service, but i just don’t think he’s ever going to run out of material. the DC press is just abysmal, beyond terrible – but it’s all we have…
But the world is full of people like Garrigan, people who live to recommend presidents because they were “underachievers� and “clowns.�
And I wonder why that might be.
Anyway, Sarah Vowell’s ‘The Nerd Voice’ is pretty good on this, especially in reference to Gore. In short, Americans are brought up to hate people who do their homework and aren’t embarrassed about their erudition, unless those people have British accents.
“multimillionaire press corps�? Not so sure about that.
In print, less so. On teevee, Somerby’s right: he’s addressing the Russerts and Brokaws and Matthewses with their bullshit blue-collar Hallmark-level books (which, until his flameout, always got lotsa plugs on Imus) and their Nantucket / Martha’s Vineyard summer houses.
But I don’t just think it’s the money: it’s the milieu. The BBC doesn’t pay its lead news types the same sort of money, but it’s also based in a city where there’s more for a political journalist to do than just hang around with politicians, lobbyists and other political journalists. Olbermann is fucking well paid by NBC, but he spends his spare time going to Y*nk**s games.
I read it yesterday, and you’re right, it’s fantastic.
Print and radio reporters face the temptation of making big money by being invited on TV talk shows with millionaires like Russert and Matthews. With a little exposure they start veering right (anti-Democrat) like Juan Williams and Mara Liasson. Somerby has documented this in detail. By “read the whole thing” one means read everything he’s written for 8 years. You won’t read or watch the news the same way again.
Speaking of Olbermann, we haven’t been able to get MSNBC for about a week, now. It’s just stuck full of static.
Is it just us (we’re in Oak Ridge, Tennessee) or are others having problems?
Somerby is a must read daily.
His detailed documentation of malfeasance by the multimillionaire media (sucking up to Republicans, thrashing Democrats) is eye opening. Check out his archives as the history of this behavior is long and dark. And it is not limited to Fox News and other right-wing nuts.The so called “liberal media” is equally culpable.
Somerby also advises progressives and liberals to work to counter the natural inclination of the millionaire press to pimp Republicans while denigrating Democrats.
Somerby is a must read daily.