I saw Chris Rock on HBO the other night and he did a bit about misdirection (though I don't think he called it that), talking about our apparent obsession with celebrity gossip or the airhead of the week or whatever piece of "news" is currently obsessing the nations media. And he blamed it all on Bush.
It was hilarious. George Bush was responsible for everything from Laci Peterson to Paris Hilton's latest sex tape to the inexplicable succss of Big Momma's House 2 (ok, I added that last one. Still, you gotta wonder.) All of it to distract from the latest real news story about corruption in Washington or the Bush administration's latest blunder or the bad news from Iraq… whatever the President needs to distract us from. And I laughed my ass off at the bit. Of course, I'm laughing through the pain because, absurd as his examples were, I'm betting there's more than a kernel of truth behind the humor.
Never has that seemed more true than this week, with our national obsession about Cheney's bad aim. Seriously… the man shot his friend in a hunting accident. If it weren't the VP, this wouldn't even qualify as news, and the only reason for the uproar would seem to be the incredibly inept way Cheney handled the Press in the first place. It's like he figured they wouldn't notice as long as he didn't say anything.
Unless, of course, the whole thing's a chance to confuse, inveigle, and obfuscate… to distract everyone from the OTHER stuff going on in the news this week. You know, stuff like warrantless surveillance of US citizens, or the latest news on the hurricane Katrina debacle (yeah, they knew the levee had broken… apparently they didn't care.)
If that's the case, of course, it's worked brilliantly. Have YOU heard anything about either of these topics this week? Have you had to dig to do it? The Senate's decided NOT to probe the wiretapping, but that news didn't exactly hit the front page, did it?
Maybe Chris Rock was right. Hell, I'm willing to believe Cheney took a shot at his friend to distract the press. At this point, I'm willing to believe his friend volunteered.
Interesting times.
It was hilarious. George Bush was responsible for everything from Laci Peterson to Paris Hilton's latest sex tape to the inexplicable succss of Big Momma's House 2 (ok, I added that last one. Still, you gotta wonder.) All of it to distract from the latest real news story about corruption in Washington or the Bush administration's latest blunder or the bad news from Iraq… whatever the President needs to distract us from. And I laughed my ass off at the bit. Of course, I'm laughing through the pain because, absurd as his examples were, I'm betting there's more than a kernel of truth behind the humor.
Never has that seemed more true than this week, with our national obsession about Cheney's bad aim. Seriously… the man shot his friend in a hunting accident. If it weren't the VP, this wouldn't even qualify as news, and the only reason for the uproar would seem to be the incredibly inept way Cheney handled the Press in the first place. It's like he figured they wouldn't notice as long as he didn't say anything.
Unless, of course, the whole thing's a chance to confuse, inveigle, and obfuscate… to distract everyone from the OTHER stuff going on in the news this week. You know, stuff like warrantless surveillance of US citizens, or the latest news on the hurricane Katrina debacle (yeah, they knew the levee had broken… apparently they didn't care.)
If that's the case, of course, it's worked brilliantly. Have YOU heard anything about either of these topics this week? Have you had to dig to do it? The Senate's decided NOT to probe the wiretapping, but that news didn't exactly hit the front page, did it?
Maybe Chris Rock was right. Hell, I'm willing to believe Cheney took a shot at his friend to distract the press. At this point, I'm willing to believe his friend volunteered.
Interesting times.
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