Tiny Bubbles
Some notes on "inoffensiveness'"
FOX’s mercurial “Gutfeld” (show and person) often effectively discusses serious contemporary stories and popular issues. Almost as often, it and he doesn’t.
Last week, discussing the ‘echo chamber’ of the “Elite” (political, media, Hollywood), the group roundly disparaged the Mighty Wealthy as living in bubbles reinforced by the echo chamber of their own bias. The failure of the Upper Crusts to connect with the Sixpack Family was the ongoing travesty that stood solidly in the way of hope for unification of the country; polarization ad infinitum. It’s not that these American Rock Stars believe the Deplorables ‘just don’t get it’; the Deplorables can’t get it; they are that dumb, ignorant, and un-Ivy League-educated.
At a moment of erudition, Tyrus (aka George Murdoch), former NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (and FOX contributor), commented on the country’s concern for the future in the wake of the Trump conviction.
Tyrus wants everyone to know, “We’re gonna be OK.” Why? Because he has a 6-wheel truck (pause for Control Room to put up picture), so "everyone can bite me.”
Translation: Tyrus is gonna be OK, protected from whatever evil this way comes by sheer body mass, his monster 6-wheel truck and, oh - an (unmentioned) net worth of $5 million.
While just a tiny segment of a 60-minute show, it stood out as symptomatic of flagrant unawareness inherent in Media Stars, politicians, and sports super-heroes who desperately want you to believe they are all for the Common Man, the ‘average citizen’, the infamous Sixpack Family in Flyover Country actually struggling with 18% inflation, rising fuel costs, car insurance and damn near everything else devastating their family budget.
Listening to the ‘happy talk’ between show hosts, news readers, and other Stars of the Media Galaxy (aka Legends In Their Own Mind), you get a peek inside their own tiny bubbles and discover they are just as self-assumed and self-consumed as the Elitists they criticize as part of their regular shtick. Recently, on FOX’s ‘The Five’, Judge Jeanine Piero (salary $6M), Jessie Watters (salary $12M), Dana Perino (salary $13M), and Greg Gutfeld (salary $24M) were jack-potting (unscripted chatter) about their typical evening dinner. To the person, each always opted for Door Dash, Uber Eats, or ‘dining out.’ IOW, no one cooked. Meanwhile, back at the Sixpacks, watching at home during dinner hour…………………….
Being studiously disconnected from your audience doesn’t bode well for a media personality’s long-term success. OTOH, at $15 Large per, how long would one have to “survive” before being forced to move next door to the Sixpacks in that double-wide in West Woodchuck, KS?
On the bright side is the occasional comeuppance these self-worshippers so richly deserve. ICYMI, a couple years ago, an episode of The Five included the 2nd Most Obnoxious Person in Show Biz, Geraldo Rivera*. During a segment discussing the unpopularity of EVs, Geraldo had to get in the fact that he drove a Bentley EV (very pricey). Gutfeld pounced on the self-aggrandizing comment, and it was Game On! on Live TV with personal insults flying, Geraldo calling Gutfeld a ‘little punk’ and saying that he was ‘gonna whip your ass.’ Unremarkably, Rivera was fired thankfully, proving there is Occasional Justice In Broadcasting.
In these trying times, it would bode well for everyone, on and off screen or mic, in or out of elected office, Oscar winner or also-ran, to practice a soupçon of humility and empathy for their fellow man (or woman) not currently enjoying the featherbed of materialism. If the pundits and prognosticators are to be believed, even the 1%’ers are in store for some dark times, financial and otherwise.
BW
* In 1989 on new York City’s notoriously successful Ross & Wilson Z-Morning Zoo, I had the dubious pleasure of enduring “Jerry” for the worst part of an hour. He demonstrably lived down to his odious reputation.
Thanks for reading this far!
If you’ve been around these blog parts for any time, I believe you will enjoy – and be informed – by the latest scribblings of some of my fellow Substackers:
And don’t forget to recommend our Herculean efforts here!
I've found that unless people experience it themselves, they don't understand it. Now "it" can be hunger, poverty, despair, severe illness, loss of a spouse, child, parent, beloved pet (which is the worst).
For example, I spent six months in Belem, Brazil in the Amazon. That city, people, culture, and climate are as different from the USA as can be. I try to explain it to Americans, but it's hopeless.
Landing in a bush plane on a runway in the jungle with a 3% room for error is a thrill you have to experience yourself. I imagine it's similar to landing a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier at night.
You haven't really been kissed until you've been kissed by a Belemese woman. You haven't seen any real dancing either.
And until you've had daily dysentery for six months, you won't understand the cramps, sweat, and pain and then relief when it ends while sitting on the shitter in the jungle as a huge tarantula crawls across the ceiling. It is a great way to lose weight. I lost 30 pounds (188lbs to 158lbs and I'm 6'1".)