Cable News is Killing My Brain February 1
As with many people in DC, I am moderately a political junkie. And as political heroin goes, this year’s primary elections are 100% grade-A straight-from-the-Afghani-poppy-fields black tar. This race is so compelling, so ever-changing, I found myself in desperate need of a fix of updates, opinions, and information every hour or two.
It’s this need that unfortunately has me watching more cable news than ever. The Internet is wonderful and I check it often, but for some reason whenever I turn on the TV I find myself watching CNN, MSNBC, or (on the rare occasion I’m jones-ing really bad) FOX. I stay glued to this shit (and that’s really what it is) for way longer than I should, considering how often they repeat themselves.
Cable news is dumbing down this country in ways that are too numerous to count. Ridiculous red, white, and blue colored graphics are thrown all over the screen all the time, and most of the move in disorienting ways. On MSNBC, for example, they have to superimpose the box with whatever “expert” is being interviewed over top of a background filled with moving white pillars and with the text of the constitution superimposed on top of that. CNN is trying desperately to recapture viewers lost to FOX, and it shows; they have almost as many graphics on the screen per inch as FOX and they continually find new ways to simplify every complex subject into two to three buzzowords that they shout out at each. For example: the question was raised (about every 5 minutes) on Monday “how will Kennedy’s endorsement help Obama?” Every single expert gave the same tired answer, all day long: “LATINOS!!!! UNIONS!!!!” Not one could come up with any more insight than that - and trust me, I watched enough of it to know.
CNN also has the nauseating slogan “the best political team on television” (see a great article on that here), which they like to say about every 4.5 seconds. I swear Wolf Blitzer must get paid by how often he works that phrase in.
And don’t get me started on that ridiculous stage setup of these debates. Look at this stage:
Then look at the stage for the Kennedy-Nixon debate:
Which one says “this is serious business, and we’re focusing on issues” and which one says “POLITICS IN YOUR FACE!!!!”?
I just want to be told the news as if I’m a grown-up and can understand the issues without idiotic simplification. Is that too much to ask?