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R Mercer's avatar

We have allowed political performance art to get out of hand. What started as rhetoric to justify particular positions and ideologies (and to cater to bias/prejudice) has morphed into the demonization and dehumanization of other citizens.

Most of the people who contributed the most to this problem were not politicians, they were entertainers. Media personalities. People looking for a spin they could use to turn a few dollars--well, more than a few.

The true leadership of the right is not their politicians. It hasn't been the politicians or the thinkers for quite some time (starting back in the late 80s). The true leadership was the media personalities--the radio talk show hosts, the writers, the media opinion people.

Even they did not lead so much as amplify and extend something that was already there--sitting beneath the surface, waiting its moment to spring into life.

Now, there is no control--which means there is no bottom. There is this self-reinforcing vicious cycle where you now have to outdo the people before you if you want to gain any traction and make any money or hold onto office.

This is happening on the left as well. It is less noticed because the left has less power and influence in our society... and the Democratic center (for a long time) pushed back against it, seeing that rhetoric as a losing proposition.

When a group sees something as existential, it becomes existential. When the enemy is Other, it is easy to use extreme measures.

This cycle has not eased, it is accelerating. The politicians and media are now stuck on the back of the hungry tiger and are afraid to get off because they know that the tiger WILL eat them.

The whole mess is a natural outcome of our consumer market society. The closest analogy to political rhetoric (as practiced in this country) is narcotics. The pushers pushed their product (media) and the customers liked it--but soon you needed a stronger fix.. and a stronger fix. The money (and power) kept rolling in so it was all good--NOW, the customers are showing up armed and ready to kill you (sometimes literally) if you do not provide them the fix they want... because they are desperate for it.

And now they actually want you to DO something about this horrible mess that you have convinced them exists. If it's that bad, you should be doing something--and if YOU aren't going to do it, then maybe they will.

And all you really wanted was to make a few bucks or get (and stay) elected.. you didn't actually MEAN it, not really. You were just telling people things that you thought they wanted to hear or that your consultant told you to say... it polled well.

Ah, the banality of evil. It's amazing.

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