"The Worst Obsession in the World" By Susan J. Douglas

[YankeeLeft7x]

In These Times
DECEMBER 22, 2009

The Worst Obsession in the World
By Susan J. Douglas

“....Welcome to Countdown with Keith Olbermann, one of the few liberal precincts on television. The show became a refuge for many during the Bush years, especially when Olbermann delivered his passionate on-air editorials about the Bush administration’s serial violation of the Constitution and morality on so many fronts. But has the show lost its way? And is Olbermann’s obsession with “Bill-O the clown,” Beck, Limbaugh and Palin a necessary and important monitoring of what’s going on in the right-wing media? Or is it an echo-chamber that inflates its importance and influence beyond Fox News’ 1.5 to 2 million viewers?...Palin, Beck, et al. are thus fascinating, infuriating and scary. But the number of their true believers remains small in the national scheme of things. For Countdown to devote so much valuable broadcasting real estate, not to mention emotional angst, to these far-right demagogues exaggerates their importance and makes them seem to represent many more Americans than they do. People may be flocking to Palin book signings in droves in targeted towns in the Midwest, but is it because they intend to vote for her or because she’s a charismatic celebrity? A recent ABC/Washington Post poll shows only 20 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans; a CBS poll shows that only 23 percent have a favorable view of Palin; the ABC/Post poll found that 60 percent said she is not qualified to be president, and only 28 percent of those polled by CNN believe she is....So, Dear Mr. Olbermann: Can you stop providing a megaphone for these turkeys? Beck and Palin have been successful in part because they have created an imagined community of followers whom they make feel much more powerful than they actually are. Might you, by shifting your coverage to less famous, unsung progressives and liberals around the country fighting for financial reform, climate-change legislation and the like, help make us feel as potent a force as we actually are? I, for one, would like to see more of the energy, ideas and actions on the left....”

Susan J. Douglas is a professor of communications at the University of Michigan and an In These Times columnist. Her latest book is Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism's Work is Done (2010).

Read the Entire Article @:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5328/the_worst_obsession_in_the_world/

[tabatha]

1. Possibily Olbermann contributed to

opening people's eyes about these people.

My neighbor, who does not get info from the internet, learns about the whack jobs from MSNBC.