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The Domestication of Bill O’Reilly
Fringe movements are not instant-cocoa. Invest time, energy – even mintage – and you may still never produce an end for which there is no formula.
Given this, it’s unlikely that any “causative link” exists between Fox Media and the Teabagging hoopla. Yet there is an undeniable symbiosis at play that’s recast the network’s hierarchy — leaving Beck in line to claim Bill-O’s former pedestal.
Beck, after all, owes his success to the ascendancy of a self-mobilized fringe, just as that fringe owes its success to his reverential rhetoric.
And Bill O’Reilly? Well, let’s just say his time spent out of the spotlight has done his image some good.
Since Beck hit it big, Bill’s embraced a milder role in political commentary. Which isn’t to say the man’s been shitting rainbows, just that he’s shown considerable restraint in joining the “Obama as Antichrist” caravan. Rather than engaging in the same theatrics that, in previous years, earned him ratings and renown, …
Popularity: 1% [?]
Is Black History Month Still Relevant?
It’s no secret that our history of racial conflict has left a lasting impression on modern American discourse.
And why should it be?
From the unconstitutional expulsion of the Cherokees to the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, our country’s political narrative has long been scarred by the same legislative and institutional discrimination that haunt its citizens today.
Yet 147 years since Lincoln freed the slaves, and a little over a year since we inaugurated our first black President, many Americans of all ages, races, and political persuasions are questioning whether Black History Month — an 84 year tradition founded by US historian Carter G. Woodson — has outlived its commemorative relevance.
For baby-boomers who lived and picketed in the tumultuous 60s, the implications of eliminating the 28-day observance are unthinkable. Given their unprecedented generational activism in the area of …
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Debunking Millennial Disillusionment
Barry’s had a bad month.
For Christmas, he got a pair of PETN-laden underwear. For New Years? A Haitian Katrina. Top that with New England’s post-Kennedy throwdown, in which Scott Brown – a skin-baring trucker with small-town charm – left his opponent choking on dust, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Yet as Team Obama is, once again, violently thrown back in the swim of things, the President might very well break out the brass knuckles by channeling the same tough-talking alter ego Americans didn’t know they wanted.
And this is where it gets tricky. As healthcare reform goes stale amidst public hysteria, what the White House is wrangling may demand nothing short of a gritty (and all too familiar) homage to Chi-town politics. Yet in forfeiting middle-ground territory – and his campaign’s promise to kick partisanship cold turkey– will the Administration also lose young constituents to generational disillusionment?
Maybe. But if exigent …
Popularity: 2% [?]
The American Talk Show: End of An Era
I’ve never really liked Jay Leno.
Maybe it’s the retro-skunk hairdo. Or maybe I just have a soft spot for cigar-puffing Rottweiler puppets. I don’t know.
At any rate, when fondly reminiscing about an era before predatory i-bankers, Jersey fist-pumping, and the growing possibility of being blown up by an Underwear bomber, I’m more likely to recall Coco’s whip-smart witticisms and Triumph’s trashtalk over any jokes delivered by Leno.
Two decades later, both talk show legends wander the annals of anachronism. Young Millennials – once cosseted by the 90s bubble – are more fluent in market toxicity than Sir-Mix-A-Lot. And the lose-lose scuffle between Coco and Jay Leno has NBC struggling to reconcile a generational schism that may swallow them – and their quarreling stars – whole.
As the Aughties sunset, exiling both Kings of Prime Time television, a next generation of torch-bearers prepares to ascend the throne.
Enter Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart …
Popularity: 2% [?]
Sarah Palin Gets Folksy at Fox
Despite her sworn aversion to media scrutiny, Republican “It girl” Sarah Palin is backtracking to familiar territory in a bizarre — but potentially genius — political maneuver that’s left her fraternizing with the “fair and balanced” folks at Fox.
Well, maybe a little more than that.
According to her multiyear deal, the blue-collar heroine will regularly appear as a political commentator and analyst on the cable channel, radio network, and website, in addition to hosting episodes of Fox News’ “Real American Stories” — a new series designed to revolve around the lives of citizens who have overcome adversity.
Touching? Sure. Yet while hand-wringing “liberal establishmentarians” calculate the prospects of our first Alaskan President, even Palin’s ululating base has misgivings as to whether her professional endeavors will pay dividends in 2012.
“I assume this is a business decision on the part of both Fox News and on Gov. Palin’s part,” opined former McCain spokesperson Nancy …
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