It's one of those things we don't admit, in polite company. But it's part of that "human condition". Human foibles and such, that cause us to do just that, when coming upon an accident scene on the highway. George Carlin, I believe, touched on this in some routine long ago, about not being shy about having the police bring the bodies closer to the car so he could get a look. He was best when he expounded on the simple things, we had in common.
That's where I am now, with Mr. Olbermann. I find myself visiting the sites that highlight his mania, more and more lately. Olbermann Watch, et al... I actually watched his first shows. The same goes for Chris Matthews when MSNBC was in it's infancy. I was attracted to Matthew's "inside baseball", view of the goings on in Washington. His straight-forward approach and some of the things he would say. Olbermann was okay to watch too. Very early on, there wasn't much indication of things to come but, soon after...I just drifted away. They became further and further away from my reality. And...they weren't even likable, anymore. I can name more than a few people in all forms of media, who DO NOT THINK AT ALL LIKE ME but, who I can actually say, I like. I would definitely hang out with Jon Stewart, if I could. (I never will get the chance) I've seen Lawrence O'Donnell as he captained the Good Ship Lefty-pop to Crazy Town, on occasion. But I still "like" him. Come on...West Wing? You didn't have to be on the Left or Right side of things to be addicted to that show, in it's heyday. I can watch it, even now and O'Donnell was a big part of that. He's an impressive person. Not so, for the Olbermanns or the Bill Maher's of the world. They just became totally un-likable, even if they didn't start out that way. Dylan Ratigan never started out that way...
I won't deny that, I happened to notice one day that, when watching some channel on my TV, that had a dark area on the bottom of the screen for whatever was being shown at that time... I noticed a shadow burned into the screen, somewhat, that appeared as a black bar across the bottom. I eventually figured out that it was a result of the Fox News crawl that runs virtually non-stop through most of their broadcasts. Indicating how much my TV was on that particular channel. It was a bit of a bummer that my fairly new HD television now had this blemish that truly, only I would be aware of and no one else, since it only appeared when the screen was dark and you really had to be looking and know what you were looking for, to see it. Still, I promised to watch more varied programming, if only to 'degauss' my TV screen in some way.
I won't disguise my leanings but I do like to think that I survey and allow myself to absorb lots of different points of view. Through the TV, sure, but mostly on the Internet. Politico, Huffington, Real Clear Politics, NewsRealBlog, Salon, the "Bigs": Government, Hollywood, Journalism and many more. I'd venture to say, like many Fox viewers who provide themselves with news and opinion from all over and make their own determinations that build and nurture their views of the world. I think that's what the difference might be, that gives Fox such huge breathing room, between them and whoever might be second. Sure all points of view have their zealous following but, my feeling is those that choose Fox are secure in their own thinking and intelligence, that they don't fear seeing all that's out there and make up their minds on their own. My feeling is also that, those who patronize someone like Keith Olbermann's brand of Info-tainment, (with much less emphasis on the "tainment") do have a closed off, over-zealous and unwavering allegiance to only one point of view...one political narrative. A sort of, "our way is the only way" and if you disagree, you're not just someone with an opposing point of view...you are the devil incarnate and all that is sub-human. And those who truly harbor these narrow beliefs, on either side, will always be the minority and and those fringe-like numbers are reflected in what makes up Olbermann's total viewership.
I can't remember the last time I actually turned to MSNBC at the 8 o'clock hour. Long, long time ago. I can only view Olbermann in snippets. Feeling a bit guilty and disappointed with myself, as I slow down while driving past the accident scene, to get a look. "Could you bring the body a little closer, please?"
No comments:
Post a Comment