Monday, February 13, 2017

The branches of the tree of evil


v. the roots:

There is something more than faintly wrong about the whole salt-of-the-earth genre of journalism that's sprung up since the presidential election revealed to many editors and producers that there is a country between the coasts. I have grown tired of the expeditionary journalism that seeks to explain why so many Americans suffering from serious economic and social dislocation voted for a transparent charlatan who sold them snake oil by the bucketful.

I also am tired of these stories soft-pedaling the fact that a lot of the appeal was pure nativism—racism and xenophobia blended smoothly into a cocktail. (By comparison, imagine a story about a black community that is suffering from serious economic and social dislocation that doesn't mention street crime. You can't, because there aren't any.) There's a lot more going on between the coasts than shuttered stores and giant, blank-staring mils. Journalism does nobody any favors by pretending otherwise.

When Charlie Pierce is right, he's just damned right.  Our problems go well beyond who is in the White House or even on the Sunday showz (yes, "showz").  We have elected a white racist who is being advised by a madman who thinks he holds the keys to history in his hand.  And all our national discourse allows us to discuss is "serious economic and social dislocation" among whites, and "street crime" among blacks.

I'll retire to Bedlam.....

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