I've been thinking about the effects of so-called "reality television".The first thing that needs to be pointed out is that there's nothing real about it. Shows like "Survivor", "Fear Factor", "The Apprentice" and so on are just game shows. There are rules, contestants, a winner and several losers. The whole thing is totally artificial. Yet this is being sold to us as "reality", and we're buying it hook, line and sinker.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the most unbelievable statements are accepted as truth without batting an eye.
It didn't start with "reality television", of course. Forty years ago, a boxer started making brash statements. At least, they were considered brash back then, even though they would be considered pretty lame today. But he backed up those statements with performances to match. Today, a football player can make a perfectly ordinary tackle, then jump up and dance around as if he had singlehandedly won the Super Bowl -- and we shrug it off.
But there's a world of difference between a football player and the President of the United States. If a football player gets ridiculous, what does it matter? When the President completely loses touch with reality, however, we should take notice.
Seriously, one wonders if the President is completely sane.
Why else would he abandon his pursuit of terrorists like Osama bin Laden in order to invade a country that was never a threat to us? Why else would he campaign for tax cuts to reduce the surplus, then claim he wants more of the same tax cuts to reduce the deficit? Why else would he claim to be compassionate, while locking Americans up in dungeons, with no criminal charges, no access to lawyers, and no hope for release?
Why?
Perhaps it's because George W. Bush and the Republicans think that Americans will mindlessly accept what they hear on television. Perhaps they believe that most people who call themselves journalists spend more time parroting press releases than digging for the facts. Or perhaps they're certain that John Kerry and the Democrats will be too busy trying to make the most politically safe statements to stand up and tell the truth.
Or perhaps they feel that, if it comes down to it, they can just steal the election again.
Whatever the reason, George W. Bush and the Republicans are pretty smug. They will continue telling lies and expecting us to believe them. They will continue destroying our economy, our environment and our alliances without regard to the consequences. They will continue dismantling our Constitution, safe in the knowledge that Americans will never stop them.
Unless the Republican view of America is unreal.
Copyright 2004, Dan Jacoby
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