Just Like You

Something fundamental is happening in the main stream media and the entertainment industry. In the past, both projected at least the appearance of mainstream thought. They avoided partisan politics, recognizing that it's far better to occupy the center, enabling as many people as possible to view their offering with appreciation and even admiration. Sure, most members of the media and the entertainment industry have always been progressives with a high affinity for left-wing thought, but they masked it to some extent. Today, as Trump Derangement Syndrome pervades the media and entertainment industries, the mask has fallen.

The conservative blogger, Ace of Spades, comments on all of this:

There's a reason the media and left-liberals-who-don't-wish-to-acknowledge-they're-left-liberals ... It's because people -- most normal people, anyway -- have a deep suspicion of politics and politically minded people.

If you can paint your opponent as political, while fighting him nail and tooth while pretending that you are yourself not political, you've taken a massive first step towards persuading an audience, because the first thing you need to do to persuade someone [you are] "relatable," and basically Just Like Them, and as they themselves like to believe they're non-political, you establish something more important than logic and reason can when you pretend to match their personality and emotional state.

You don't like politics? Why that's so funny-- I don't like politics either! Now that we've established that we both are kindred spirits who don't like politics, let me tell you about my plan to convert the US into a single-payer health care system!

The media, and Democrats, wage a remorseless war to paint anyone who isn't an extremist left-liberal -- as they are -- as being "political." ...

In other words: They relentlessly Otherize their political opponents.

This is why every protester at a left-liberal march is depicted as Just Like You. You know the drill -- "Grandmothers. Teachers. Firemen. Welders. Whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians. Most of them had never even thought of attending a political rally before, but [insert left-liberal political claim] had finally drawn them out to the streets to make their voices heard..."

They deliberately depict the left-liberal protesters as demographically broad as possible, so that as many readers as possible can look at the description and think: Oh, that's me. These people are Just Like Me. I should agree with them!

Meanwhile, ever protester at a conservative rally is depicted as weird, intensely political, heads all filled with bugaboos, hang-ups, and #FakeNews. The media also deliberately claims that these people are as demographically narrow as possible, to make sure the smallest possible segment of the audience sees any of themselves in the crowd. They always claim conservatives are entirely white, and will actively forge video to erase black people out of gun rights marches.

Think about this example: Most average people would agree that free speech is a good idea. But when the media and entertainment industry falsely characterizes every free speech rally as a gathering of "white supremacists" or "neo-nazi" sympathizers, the average person thinks, Hey, I don't like white supremacy, so free speech can't be a good idea, can it?

Today, the media and entertainment industries have dropped their 'you're just like me' pose and have become rabidly political. Their unhinged rants against Trump [think: the Emmy awards show a few weeks ago], and by extension, the 60-plus million people who voted for him, indicate that the average citizen isn't at all just like them.

Ace of Spades continues:

Propagandists ... ruthlessly paint their enemies as Not Like You, while presenting themselves as Just Like You.

And one very important factor in the Not Like You/Just Like You propaganda rush is to claim that The Other Side are Too Political, and therefore Not Like You, while Our Side isn't really political at all, we're all just rational folks who want what's best. You know -- Just Like You.

So here's the problem the left (and the NeverTrumper fringe, who are now in a strong alliance with the left) has: While for years they followed standard propaganda protocol and pretended they were almost entirely non-political, they have now decided that The Moment Is Too Vital to pretend any longer, and have decided to out themselves as ferociously, obsessively political ...

They're destroying themselves, and sabotaging their own propaganda operations, because they're just too crazy to think or care about such things any longer.

And I gotta tell you: I love it.

Destroying the media is a thing to be dearly wished for -- but watching them destroy themselves is tons better.

They're now Othering themselves, and I think that's just fine.

I do NOT agree that the destruction of the media is a good thing. An ethical, professional media is an important element of a functioning democracy. It keeps government waste, fraud, and abuse in line and outs the dishonest and venal politicians who populate the seats of power. But that's the ideal.

Sadly, the main stream media has now chosen sides, and as a consequence, can no longer be trusted to do their jobs. They have become partisan hacks who are largely untrustworthy and grossly unprofessional. So when they characterize the participants at an event they endorse as Just-Like-You, in reality they're very likely promoting #FakeNews.