The country owes about $20 trillion in debt. It will soon not be able to meet its pension and Social Security obligations. After slashing the military budget and raising income-tax rates, the United States is still running unsustainable annual deficits. The world abroad is becoming dangerously chaotic. Instead of protesting those existential crises, students cry over Halloween costumes, deride free speech as hate speech, devour their own liberal administrators, and dismiss $100 million payoffs as too little.I call this "Look at Me!" politics and it has very little to do with what is actually being protested. In fact, in most of the situations Mr. Hanson recants I'd be willing to bet that the protesters in question couldn't identify one thing that would genuinely hurt their lives if not addressed.
Yes, the Social Justice Warriors like to think that they are righting a series of institutional wrongs but in reality, they're not. All they ARE doing is shouting to the heavens, posting it on YouTube and hoping beyond hope that it goes viral. It's the eternal quest for our 15 minutes of fame that is driving this, not some devotion to a cause. And it's not just college students who are falling victim, the media and politicians are just as bad.
Joe Scarborough has spent hours on his show bragging about how he was "right" regarding Donald Trump. His joy is not about Trump winning but to assuage his fragile ego. Donald Trump personifies look-at-me politics and has ridden the susceptibility of a significant portion of the American people towards it to all but lock in the Republican nomination. Hell, Barack Obama won two Presidential terms riding a look-at-me wave.
Wendy(?!?) Davis ran a look-at-me campaign for TX Governor, as has Kinky Friedman (who also continues to run for other offices with no other platform than 'look-at-me'). In fact, the intrusion of politics by celebrity has only, and will only, increase the prevalence of this going forward.
Kanye threatening to run for President? Look at me.
Clooney talking about running for the Senate? Look at me.
Al Franken as Senator? Look at me.
Deray McKesson running for Baltimore Mayor? Look at me. (fortunately, few did)
Almost the entirety of the Fox News on-air roster is now look at me and the same can be said for MSNBC. After all, why does Rachel Maddow bellow? Why does Sean Hannity wail?
Look at me.
If you want to find a contributing factor to why newspapers are declining? Well, it's not really Look at me but it can describe why the quality in print is falling apart.
Paul Krugman, Ruth Marcus and, from time to time, George Will are very Look at me. In Texas we have Erica Grieder and Lisa Flakenberg who are seemingly incapable of writing a political column without reminding us, at least once, how relevant they are to the goings on. There was one time that Falkenberg wrote a column that contained either "I, I'm or me" over 30 times. That almost seems impossible unless you recounting a personal story (In which case, first person writing is understandable) or laying out a personal policy position (also ok) or producing first person fiction.
We are susceptible to this as a society because we currently live in an age where celebrity is worshiped, often with hilarious consequences. A few days prior the gaggle of buffoons that make up the Houston Chronicle
That's all well and good except that it appears Lemonade was nothing more than a plan by the Couple to double down on cashing in on the tabloid rumors. In short, Beyonce is not "brave" she and her husband are "smart" however, in that they realize they are worshiped by a certain segment of the population and that there is a large amount of money to be made from that.
See any link to how the media covers politics? That's a problem that needs to be addressed. There's nothing wrong with being the wonkiest, or smartest person in the room in politics. I'd much rather support those people than the bombastic bomb-throwers that our current fixation on celebrity is producing. Unfortunately, the work to realize this reality will be tough. Celebrity is a cultural fixation after all. To the point that one can find themselves famous just for being famous without exhibiting any real talent at all. (See: Hillary Clinton)
