I was talking to a good friend last night who just happens to be about as “far ri
ght wing” as they come. She was trying to be polite to me and mentioned something complimentary about Alan Colmes to which I responded quite badly….as do most liberals. This shocked her and she asked why I didn’t like Alan Colmes and I related the story that was passed around the blogosphere not long ago in which Colmes responded to criticism by (allegedly) fellow liberals of his passive and non-combative responses to steamroller Sean Hannity, saying, “You don’t understand. That’s not our format.”
My right wing friend was shocked (not as in Gambling going on here? I’m shocked, shocked I say.) but genuinely surprised that maybe Fox News wasn’t playing it straight with her or any other conservative for that matter.
It wasn’t until an hour or so after that conversation that it hit me right between the eyes. Fox and all the other news stations have adopted the same marketing formula as Professional Wrestling….and even NASCAR seems to have adopted it.
Here’s how it works:
They give us good guys. And then they give us bad guys….and sometimes they make it interesting by giving us a good guy who turns into a bad guy. But it’s really the same old Morality play. The good guy always triumphs but only in the third act. The first act is the glorification of the good guy but at the end there is a dramatic foreshadowing of evil to come. In the second act the evil reveals itself and raises havoc for the hero and it end
s with the implied triumph of evil, but the third act…..ah…that’s where morality and good prevail over all evil…
ProWrestling follows that format precisely and Rupert Murdoch knows a good thing when he sees it…so that becomes Fox News…..
The Conservatives are all good, all the time (except when it makes a good story line for a conservative to go bad by endorsing or adopting a liberal view). Liberals are always bad, evil, weak, indecisive and will ALWAYS lose in the end. Colmes was chosen for the role of Hannity’s foil because he
is EXACTLY the image that Fox and the media want to create of a Liberal….weak, effete, and easily vanquished. Colmes is never allowed to beat Hannity in a debate, only conservative surrogates…Hannity always comes charging in on his white horse to save the day. He is the manliest of men and Colmes is disgusting weakling.
Here’s the scary part.
It isn’t just Fox….
The play is run out time and again with more subtly on CNN, (Glenn Beck anyone?) and MSNBC (note Chris Mathews fascination with George Bush’s “parachute harness, Fred Thompson’s “musky smell”, and Mitt Romney’s broad shoulders) Again, they are making demigods of Conservatives and playing up Hillary Clinton as the icon of the Liberals….Strong man versus Effete man.(or manly woman in this case?)
That’s what it will eventually come down to.
Good versus Evil in a no-holds-barred-steel-caged-death-match in the (political)Octogon.
ght wing” as they come. She was trying to be polite to me and mentioned something complimentary about Alan Colmes to which I responded quite badly….as do most liberals. This shocked her and she asked why I didn’t like Alan Colmes and I related the story that was passed around the blogosphere not long ago in which Colmes responded to criticism by (allegedly) fellow liberals of his passive and non-combative responses to steamroller Sean Hannity, saying, “You don’t understand. That’s not our format.”
My right wing friend was shocked (not as in Gambling going on here? I’m shocked, shocked I say.) but genuinely surprised that maybe Fox News wasn’t playing it straight with her or any other conservative for that matter.
It wasn’t until an hour or so after that conversation that it hit me right between the eyes. Fox and all the other news stations have adopted the same marketing formula as Professional Wrestling….and even NASCAR seems to have adopted it.
Here’s how it works:
They give us good guys. And then they give us bad guys….and sometimes they make it interesting by giving us a good guy who turns into a bad guy. But it’s really the same old Morality play. The good guy always triumphs but only in the third act. The first act is the glorification of the good guy but at the end there is a dramatic foreshadowing of evil to come. In the second act the evil reveals itself and raises havoc for the hero and it end
s with the implied triumph of evil, but the third act…..ah…that’s where morality and good prevail over all evil…ProWrestling follows that format precisely and Rupert Murdoch knows a good thing when he sees it…so that becomes Fox News…..
The Conservatives are all good, all the time (except when it makes a good story line for a conservative to go bad by endorsing or adopting a liberal view). Liberals are always bad, evil, weak, indecisive and will ALWAYS lose in the end. Colmes was chosen for the role of Hannity’s foil because he
is EXACTLY the image that Fox and the media want to create of a Liberal….weak, effete, and easily vanquished. Colmes is never allowed to beat Hannity in a debate, only conservative surrogates…Hannity always comes charging in on his white horse to save the day. He is the manliest of men and Colmes is disgusting weakling.Here’s the scary part.
It isn’t just Fox….
The play is run out time and again with more subtly on CNN, (Glenn Beck anyone?) and MSNBC (note Chris Mathews fascination with George Bush’s “parachute harness, Fred Thompson’s “musky smell”, and Mitt Romney’s broad shoulders) Again, they are making demigods of Conservatives and playing up Hillary Clinton as the icon of the Liberals….Strong man versus Effete man.(or manly woman in this case?)
That’s what it will eventually come down to.
Good versus Evil in a no-holds-barred-steel-caged-death-match in the (political)Octogon.
I can't believe that we as a nation have become that dumb....that we fall for this ploy over and over again. I also find it hard to believe that I'm among the few who have discovered this stupid ploy...I'm (at best ) only of average intelligence...I'm no genius... and yet I see it plainly. Where are the men and women of great intellectual stature? Why aren't they sounding the battle-cry?
I think my wife is right....maybe it's time to move to Lichtenstein....
