Saturday, April 18, 2009

Welcome to my Nausea

Loyal CC fans (of which there are six or seven) will know that I do not watch television. (To know why, read the appendix to Truth Decay, "Television: Agent of Truth Decay.") However, some of my spies do so, and they feed me clips, which, on rare occasions, I watch. I fell off the wagon, and just did so. This is a "conversation" between Keith Oberman and some sneering, pontificating actress and "activist" named Janeane Garofalo on the tea parties held around the country on April 15.

In less than nine minutes, she spews so many wrong, illogical, and utterly arrogant and contemptuous and contemptible statements, that it is hard to know where to start. But here are a few:

1. Ad hominem. She assumes all or most of the protestors are racists. How does she know that? They are protesting high taxes. How is that a racial issue?

2. She claims that conservatives have malformed brains (and seems serious). So, we have pseudo-science dismissing protesting Americans as retarded. If so, then they are not morally accountable for their beliefs or actions and cannot be condemned morally as "racists."

3. She also condemns blacks who protested as suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome." Apparently, this is another disorder whereby blacks oddly do not hold left wing views. This, too, is some kind of pathology (for which, of course, there is no evidence); but if so, then these benighted urchens are similarly exempted from moral scrutiny, since they cannot help it. So, she cannot condemn them.

Well, I'm getting nauseous, so it is time to stop. This episode may be the apotheosis of debauched political commentary (if I may so dignify it). As an ironic comedian, Ms. Garfalo, is brilliant. But she wasn't trying to do that. She is, in fact, a parody of herself: a smug, hateful, sarcastic, contradictory ignoramus posing as someone with something worthwhile to say.

If this is what TV commentary often is, then I suggest you unplug, pick up a book or magazine, or actually talk to people you can talk back to--instead of ingesting this sad nonsense on any kind of regular basis.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And as I deal with my “pseudo philosophical” pagan acquaintance at work…He is usually flabbergasted at my not having seen a particular movie or TV program, at which point I retort...” but I’m very well read” Which he dismisses with a wave. Oh well; not that I’m trying to impress, just looking for interesting conversations to make time pass more quickly. Back to the scripture meditation…Better in the long run anyway.

Obviously, from your post; I’m certainly not missing anything! And I had thought, “well maybe a good laugh”, but really it’s just so sad, and a huge waste of time. Though sometimes I find that people are so caught up in TV that you really can’t have a decent conversation with them.
Lisa

C. Metcalfe said...

I don't have this channel - or any like it - but I know that Keith Olberman is the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low. I remember watching him with my dad on Sportscenter when I was younger, and he was great. Now he's just angry and embarrassingly out of his league and in over his head.

Yossman said...

Debates should not be done on tv. Christians should never appear in TV shows where they are asked to defend a biblical view on any topic. The medium of TV is not suitable for it nor is the commercial perspective of any TV program.

Recently I've seen it happen again on Dutch tv where Christians on opposite sides of the young-old earth controversy were made a laughingstock in front of a secular audience.

Just last week the former Director of the Evangelical Broadcast company in Holland appeared in a secular TV show where he was questioned about the resurrection of Jesus. His answer never made it to the microphone as it was drowned in rediculing remarks and stereotyped one-liners.

Thinking Eternally said...

Doug, did you really have to share your nausea with us? I mean, you enticed me into clicking the link and I watched part of Keith Doberman, feeling a bit queasy, and then got to the part with Jeanine G and didn't even make it two seconds before I had to stop!

Is every liberal commentator a homosexual activist? I never heard the term "tea bagging" as a double entendre until last week, and I wish I hadn't heard it then.

I always love when people like JG spew vitriol about other people being intolerant. She is completely intolerant of intolerant people...at least the ones that she can't tolerate!