Now that the right has control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, and is about to close its grip on the judiciary, they only have one remaining target for takeover: our brains.
Er, I mean, you know... culture. The media. Movies. TV.
It isn't that I don't think culture matters or that cultural influences can't be important. It's that I think the whole thing is a big fat distraction. Yeah, let's worry about sex and violence on TV. Just don't look behind the curtain and see Karl Rove at the control module.
Seems my favorite media god, Jon Stewart, thinks so too ... he had Bernard Goldberg, the author of the vile 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, on his show the other day. My friend Gina and I got together this weekend and tripped all over each other recounting our favorite zingers from the episode where Jon takes him down. All the way down. Like this:
Bernard Goldberg: Once upon a time... a drunk in a bar wouldn't use the F-word. Now... Chevy Chase goes to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, at a gala where people are wearing gowns and tuxedoes, and calls the president of the United States a dumb-blank.
John Stewart: And once upon a time, Thomas Jefferson fucked slaves.
I guess what I'm saying is yes, Chevy Chase used a bad word on TV .... but segregation no longer exists, slavery is gone. That's REAL culture and REAL vulgarity. This is just words.
Calling the culture war a "fake," Stewart went on to say:
Most everybody that I see in your book is powerless. I think there's a larger issue of people in power creating problems, not Barbra Streisand on her blog.... So much focus is on culture and so little on government and the real seats of power.... So much concern is focused on this elitist culture of Hollywood.... but in Washington they are really controlling and changing people's lives and focus should be on them.... I wish smart guys like you spent less time worrying about Barbra Stresiand and more time worrying about Richard Perle and Karl Rove.
One of Stewarts finest moments. If you missed it, watch it now.
Comments