Maddow Skepticism
By Matt Zeitlin - Aug 20th, 2008 at 3:13 pmFor some reason, I never became quite as big a Rachel Maddow fanboy (or -girl) as every other leftie who has a blog. Sure, I enjoyed seeing her deliver a rhetorical smackdown to Pat Buchanan on MSNBC every once in a while, but it always seemed silly to get that excited about a TV commentator simply because she says marginally intelligent things. The truth about cable squack-fests is that they are stupid–so stupid that they will take smart people (Maddow) and simply draw them in to their ever-expanding vortex of stupidity.
Sure, Maddow has a PhD from Oxford and was a prison AIDS activist, but when she’s in one of these dumb four-way debates that MSNBC loves so much (or up against one of the transparent, intellectually dishonest GOP hack who always seem to find their way onto cable news), will any of that show? Maybe a little, but the larger vacuity that mars the entire enterprise will shine even brighter.
The fact is that cable news will always value brevity, snappiness, and extremism over actual intelligence. Keith Olbermann, the other “liberal on the teevee” didn’t become prominent because he said anything particularly insightful, but instead because he has an amazing TV presence, cracks smooth one-liners, and occasionally gets really, really angry.
But, all things being equal, it’s good to have smart, truly progressive people participating in a medium that does influence public opinion. I wouldn’t want the right dominate such a vacuous wasteland of cacophonous content.
Good point, Matt. I agree that it’s tough for any progressive to make a valid point on corporate cable TV, especially when the parameters for debate are so narrowly defined. Consider the case of Phil Donahue, whose #1 rated MSNBC program was canceled after he used his show to question the rationale for war with Iraq.
But identity politics still matter and Maddow, by virtue of being an openly out lesbian woman, has shattered a barrier.
August 20th, 2008 at 3:59 pmOlbermann simply cracks good one liners?
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August 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am