Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Trump, The Post-Modern Mediated Authoritarian

Having cited the phrase from Trump's Nevada victory rant, that he "loves poorly educated people," Matt Taibbi offered this eulogy for the American political process:

"Trump found the flaw in the American Death Star. It doesn't know how to turn the cameras off, even when it's filming its own demise."


 And we truly have to accept ourselves as enablers.  We are like the Munchkins of Oz, cowering before the booming bombast of the imagined Wizard, fearing the smoke, fire and mirrors that promises foreboding strength and benevolent control.


But we don't have a Dorothy to give courage, wisdom and heart to the potential fighters we might have had.  And I don't see a Toto among the hordes of journalists and pundits who will pull the curtain back and reveal the actuality behind the false images Trump projects.


We, indeed, are the Munchkin-like gawkers gazing into the filming of the demise.  Trump has been the maestro of the media circus and the "information" media are his workers.  For or against the idea of a Trump presidency, we abet his manipulation simply by tuning in and giving him the ratings, which drive the kind and amount of "information" we get.  Trump and his media abettors have extended the meaning of "infotainment" into the absurd.  And the absurd is the reality of the Trump arena.


We might weather this storm.  But perhaps it's not a storm.  Perhaps it's the gaussian blur of the world we've always wanted and strive toward.  This imaginary vision just might be the actuality we've sought all along.  We might even say it has become our secular religion...and Vegas is our Mecca.



No comments:

Post a Comment