highdesert wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 12:15 pm
The extremes have always been around, it's just that the two parties isolated them more in the past. The media loves conflict, so when something political happens they interview the wingers of the right and left which helps intensify the conflict and keeps it in the news for days. Conflict makes money for TV and radio stations, newspapers, online sites... We live in a victimhood culture, seems like everyone is eligible to claim they're a victim and oppressed and use it to try and excuse some of their behavior. And that in itself can lead to more conflict.
Well said-- except it's like outsourcing: Everyone thinks it works, everyone buys into the formula, but in the end, everyone just gets screwed.
One of the most shocking moments for me was in the '80s I was working as a teleprompter trying to land a writing/producing spot on a tabloid TV show in New York in the darkest days of ambush interviews. I finally got a segment, with the topic chosen by the shark pit of segment producers-- "Battered Women Who Fight Back."
I confirm it with everyone: The guests only have to answer questions that they approve in advance, she agrees-- we'll have a shrink on the show. We all get on the same page-- we want to throw a hand grenade at every
stupid cliche people have about survivors of DV, blow up the whole blame-the-victim attitude.
Day of the show, the lead segment producer comes in and says, "Here are your new questions," and they're like, "What did little Jimmy do when Daddy was on the floor in a pool of blood?" And when I refused? "This will be your last day on the set."
Fortunately, I had cards in the hole-- I also ran the teleprompter, I was the only one in the control room who knew the rundown as well as the director, which made me impossible to replace. My job also gave me final cut over the questions. So my response was, "Fuck you. Try it." He had no play, the host used my questions, and the director turned around and said it was the best spot we'd done all season. We didn't really need the blood on the floor, we just thought we did.
Was watching The Crown on TV last night and realized: BBC's ambush of Diana (based on lies) was part of that, too-- and what set the stage for AssFace and Twatter, all the other socials, and the rise of The Permanent Victim. And now my turd-loving friend and I don't even send each other Christmas cards.
I'm not singing kumbaya, I'll defend my rights-- my right to be done with us against them, boys against girls, orange against blue.
highdesert wrote:
Obsessions become more intense as people age.
More stubborn about politics, yes, a lot of the time but not always. Sometimes we get mellower, too, and less impulsive. I still love my car, and I do obsess over it, but when my wife backed into it a couple of months ago, I was kind of like, "meh." I got it fixed eventually, but it didn't feel broken until I did, the way it would have when I was 38 or 43. I think a lot of us start thinking about what's really important as we get closer to the end of our ride, at least about some things.