I'm a political news junkie in recovery. I have good days and bad days. No matter how much I try to avoid getting sucked into the manufactured nonsense that passes for real news, it's hard to ignore the propaganda the most privileged classes are always trying to sell to an uninformed and uncritical electorate who seems to easily fall under their spell.
I mean, have y'all heard about the latest "journalistic" project from Fox News host and white supremacist, Tucker Carlson? He has yet another bonkers documentary coming out where he tackles the problem with male virility and the decline of American masculinity. It's clear he's obsessed with manliness; something that to me, he doesn't seem to possess.
The preview I saw is quite homoerotic, which is amusing. But given the intent behind Carlson's content, it's embarrassing and enraging to know that this dangerous bullshit is American made. Of course, regardless of what I may think, there are plenty of people that follow his lead and help grow his herd of insecure attention-seeking pompous men who like to play pretend.
He claims to have insight and offer critical analysis of what's going on in the world of politics, but in reality he's just full of himself and willing to do anything to hold on to his current grift of instigating culture wars and supporting fascists; both abroad and here at home. He's a white nationalist with a dumb confused look on his face always asking a bunch of leading questions that give him away. He's a whiny baby throwing tantrums all the time and passing his bad behavior off as righteous indignation over his perceived victimization. According to him, he (a rich white man) and his kind are under threat; he feels threatened by people like me who are supposedly here to replace him.
As I've indicated before, I currently identify as a Progressive. Ever since I began to engage with the body politic, I've been on the "Left" but I used to consider myself more of a centrist. Of course, that was before we became the hyper partisan and divided nation we are today. I thought listening to all sides of an argument and trying to understand opposing perspectives was par of the course of being an American. But it's clear I was wrong.
Given who I am and my lived experiences so far, I've met a lot of different people of various identities and backgrounds and across the ideological and political spectrum. As a result, for most of my life, I've been able to talk to people about national news regardless of our differences. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to discuss what's happening in the country in any kind of productive way, which is quite sad.
And while I still seek to better understand the opposition and build bridges wherever and whenever I can, these past few years have been instrumental in making clear to me that I have to claim my position more firmly. Not to dig my heels in and prove others are wrong, but to stand against intolerance and hate by standing up for myself and those in this country who are told they don't belong.
Tucker, the Trumpist, is not a journalist; he's just another rabble-rouser - a wannabe is all he's been and all he'll be. He's here to confuse small-minded men and make them believe their violence is justified and their ignorance will set them free.
