From Camille Paglia‘s latest:
Money by the barrelful, by the truckload. Mountains of money, heaped like gassy pyramids in the national dump. Scrounging packs of politicos, snapping, snarling and sending green bills flying sky-high as they root through the tangled mass with ragged claws. The stale hot air filled with cries of rage, the gnashing of teeth and dark prophecies of doom.
Yes, this grotesque scene, like a claustrophobic circle in Dante’s "Inferno," was what the U.S. government has looked like for the past two weeks as it fights on over Barack Obama’s stimulus package — a mammoth, chaotic grab bag of treasures, toys and gimcracks. Could popular opinion of our feckless Congress sink any lower? You betcha!
Politicians as dump dogs. This gal can write.
Moving along …
Speaking of talk radio (which I listen to constantly), I remain incredulous that any Democrat who professes liberal values would give a moment’s thought to supporting a return of the Fairness Doctrine to muzzle conservative shows. (My latest manifesto on this subject appeared in my last column.) The failure of liberals to master the vibrant medium of talk radio remains puzzling. To reach the radio audience (whether the topic is sports, politics or car repair), a host must have populist instincts and use the robust common voice. Too many Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons. But the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism.
I don’t think it is puzzling that libs can’t get traction in talk radio.
They don’t propose anything normal people want to hear.
I recall the debacle and wasted money that resulted from the official Church’s attempts to get into TV. A certain unnamed episcopal conference forked over lots of dough only to watch it disappear in the breeze. Why? They made the content so banal, so pointless, that no one wanted to watch it.
Real people want to engage something that corresponds to reality.
Libs always ask you to deny reality, reject the evidence of your senses, including common sense.
Anyway… I bet the fairness doctrine is coming around the pike in the not too distant future.
We had better get a better grasp on how to use the tools of social communication, friends.
