Blog Archive

Interesting article by Michael Wolff: What moderate media is missing: rudeness. Wolff basically argues that the left and right wing search for media outlets (Fox, Al Gore’s search for cable and radio, etc.) is more a result of a desire to be rude and enjoy it, than by ideology. Wolff outlines the limited anture of media in the so called middle:

Outside of designated comedy shows (which is where more and more people actually get their news), there?s no room in the media to be funny, cutting, ironic?no context for it. There are no zingers in news. Forget balance, there is no impertinence in news. And there is certainly no room for being only half-serious.

He then argues that this might explain the media better than most critiques:

Of course, that?s far from where we are. We?re in a left/right world rather than a funny/not-funny world. A savvy producer wouldn?t position Bill O?Reilly with half a gimlet eye, or Ann Coulter as a girl with a shtick?half a comedienne.
Indeed, polarization, or the pretense of polarization, is the only thing that seems to provide a socially acceptable excuse for vituperation. It just may be that as a function of American uptightness and verbal correctness, we?re forced to invent a political excuse to say something unkind. The end of civility, this corrosive discourse, the taking up of opposite sides is perhaps just a smoke screen under which we can express the natural desire to be impolite.
We may not be so left and right. But rather, more generally, and diffusely, we?re dissatisfied, ambivalent, annoyed, bored. Instead of left and right, we just don?t like the bland, blah-blah, pointless, and point-of-view-less media we?re getting. Hence, the restless quest for newer, more interesting, more radical forms.

Now,
I think there is a lot to what Wolf is saying. Boredom and blandness do lead to rebellion and a serach for something really different. Obviously much of this is a result of the news trying to compete with other forms of entertainment. To keep people from changing the station or tunring the TV off, news programs have gone after sensationalism and conflict; if they can’t beat Jerry Springer why not join him. Wolff captures this well:

It is hard to admit that what some of us like most to do is make fun of people. We just have a certain misanthropy and bile and cruelty in our hearts?which is one antidote to the sanctimony and complacency and humorlessness of acceptable discourse.

The problem with this of course is that it gives in to impulses rather than seeks to tame them. There is no doubt that some people find pleasure in mercilessly skwering their opponents and doing so in a harsh and ugly way. There is also no doubt that a great many people enjoy watching this sort of activity. But those facts don’t make it healthy or good.

I have the same problem with this type of communication as I do with the concept of South Park Republicanism. It makes a vice into a virtue. It says, hey we like to be mean and make fun of people and we’re good at it, so lets do it. In fact if we enjoy it and we are good at it then it must be good to do. In the name of puncturing a bland and smug establishment you replace it with a loud, brash, and arrogant one. No thanks.

I am under no illusion that TV will become a bastion of intelligence and reasoned debate but is it too much to ask that TV news seek to provide useful information with some semblance of balance and professionalism? Wolff includes the Jim Lehrer News Hour in the media middle that is under siege, and in many ways they desrve the scorn for their complacency. But they are one of the few programs where you might learn something, where you might actually have an intelligent debate, because they actually allow people to talk for more than a few seconds. There is less of the soundbite and constant spin of the network and cable news. Perhaps I am being naive but I would hope that there is a place for intelligent and civil debate on television.

We shouldn’t be celebrating “The joie de vivre of ridicule and verbal abuse.” We should be seeking ways to ameliorate and soften the natural tendencies of media to sink to the lowest common denominator. In an age where contraints and restraint are seen as chains on people’s rights and as tyranny I won’t hold my breath.