By George, we think she’s got it!

THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2013

The problem with Weiner’s wee-wee: In this morning’s New York Times, Gail Collins just keeps discussing Anthony Weiner’s wee-wee.

Last night, cable spilled with discussions of Weiner’s mental state and the motives of his wife. In today’s New York Times, those motives are limned by New York City women in this news report.

Elsewhere on cable, piles of piffle are being peddled about the new Brit, Baby Boy George. You can say good-bye to those discussions of race and justice we were going to have!

This morning, the New York Times prints six letters about Weiner’s high-profile wee-wee. By George, we think this last lady’s got it:
LETTER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES (7/25/13): Anthony D. Weiner’s continued presence in the mayoral campaign is preventing a discussion of the real issues: schools, housing, quality of life and so on. By staying in the race, he’s getting what he thrives on: attention. But the very city he claims to want to lead is getting no attention at all. He should bow out, and do so gracefully, while he still can.

M— A—
New York, July 24, 2013
By George, we think she’s got it!

Would there ever have been a discussion about New York’s schools, housing or quality of life? Color us unconvinced.

That said, the letter writer gets to the heart of the current problem.

Our society is hanging on to its sanity by a slender thread. The tribalism of the times has virtually destroyed the ability to have a sane discussion of any topic.

Always, though, the cable talkers are happy to find a new distraction. Weiner’s wee-wee and Baby Boy George have showed them blessed escape from discussion of serious topics.

Our society is barely able to hold a discussion of any topic. People like Weiner are guaranteed to terminate any last hope.

The cable clowns are always eager to find a new distraction. In 2001, it was Gary Condit. The year after that, it was Elizabeth Smart.

They always pretend there’s a point to their chatter, a serious topic they are exploring. But there isn’t a point and there isn’t a topic. Once you tear away the veil, they are discussing shark attacks. They live for such distractions.

Our intellectual culture is on life support. Wee-wees like Weiner’s can kill it.

The history of distraction: The discussion of Condit and Chandra Levy was still a powerful presence on cable right through the evening of September 10, 2001.

The next morning, the World Trade Center was hit. That ended all discussion of Condit and Chandra Levy.

The pundits swore they had learned their lesson, that they would never be silly again. But they are very silly people, and they're paid large sums.

Last night, Chris got mad about all the sex and Lawrence kept talking about Gennifer Flowers, the woman who seems to haunt his dreams. He even played tape of his lady love, who once chronicled the Clintons’ murders for Chris, right there on The Channel.

To some extent, they’re paid to do this. But to a large extent, they’re just broken-souled losers.

Make no mistake, they’re genuine crackpots. These people are actually nuts.

13 comments:

  1. I don't see a problem talking about Weiner; the problem is (as Bob says) that even without Weiner, it's not like our millionaire press corps would be discussing or enlightening us with anything important instead.

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  2. "Gennifer Flowers, who once chronicled the Clintons’ murders"

    And yet we STILL have to hear that she's credible, that we ought to believe the things she says!

    Lawrence, do you have any sense, any at all?

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    1. "Gennifer Flowers, who once chronicled the Clintons’ murders"

      Exactly. And, Bill Clinton, who said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised White House news conference.

      What a pair! Made for each other.

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    2. Actually, Clinton did not have "sexual relations" with that woman.

      Sexual relations is an old-fashioned term for coitus. And unlike how the definition of "rape" has now been changed to apply to apparently any unwanted sexual contact at all, I'm not aware that this usage has been altered as well. I guess though that if it fits the bias it soon will be.

      People forget that everyone thought Clinton was sleeping with ML. He was not. So he wasn't lying at all.

      The whole ML/Bill Clinton story totally turned me off to the news media for good. At that point I finally realized that our culture was not being run by adults.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. The insanity that was referred to in the post is actually a symptom of exposure. Exposure to corporate greed and affirming its normalcy does something to emotional balance. Subverting one's internal beliefs for those that are acceptable to the fascists taking over our country must be highly unsettling.

    Using the news to sell pabulum to the masses is dangerous to one's connection with the self. Acceptance of what one knows to be terrible outcomes and actions is responsible for the loss of connectedness with others. The result is the type of reporting we experience from our news sources.

    The inappropriate reactions to real events create a void between emotions and critical thinking skills. The media attempts to fill that gap with human interest stories in which warm, fuzzy or outrageous are supposed disguise the yearning for realism.

    ...jus' sayin'

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    1. News stories have been replaced by news features, in a nutshell. It's a big problem everywhere.

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  5. The fascist takeover of our country?

    I think there's a middle ground between the sort of bread and circus we have on the one hand and the fascist, corporate takeover on the other.

    And I'd suggest that a media focused on triviality isn't unique to these times nor is it unique to the coming fascist reign.

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  6. "Our society is hanging on to its sanity by a slender thread.
    .....
    Our society is barely able to hold a discussion of any topic.
    .....
    Our intellectual culture is on life support."


    How many other witnesses see it hanging by a slender thread? Is the thread black, white or Hispanic?

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    1. I'm a witness. I finally had enough of network evening news shows when they promoted Diane Sawyer to her current niche. Diane Sawyer, partisan hack (good grief). The end of network news was when news was shifted to the entertainment divisions. The movie Network, released in 1976, was prescient.

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  7. Bob,
    To paraphrase what you say again and again (and stealing from some Rapper, I don't know which one. If I did I would give him credit): "It's ALL about the Benjamins".

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  8. Perhaps a little OT, but does anyone really believe this "Leather" character?

    She sounds to me like an obvious sockpuppet, a setup, a shill, even down to her phony "liberal" Facebook page. I think she's a corporate plant-- her awkward use of language on this Facebook page gives it away.

    PR firms spend millions on this kind of stealth every year. And her comment today, that Wiener told her that he "loved" her, is beyond belief. I think she went too far and harmed her credibility.

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  9. Nancy Grace has spawned? Punishment freaks, truly horrible, twisted people.

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