“Phrase of the Day”. We tend to run through cycles of catch-phrases that people glom onto and use way too much. Usually mis-using, truth be told.
“Dunning-Kruger Effect” was a recent one. All of a sudden everything was “Dunning-Kruger”. Even things that weren’t, “Dunning-Kruger” was confidently attached, I guess as verbal proof that the person using it was correct in whatever assertion they were arguing.
Another recent one was “narcissist”. Suddenly every person with a bad character trait was a narcissist. We had narcissists coming out our metaphorical ears — Significant Other dumped you? Narcissist. You dumped a Significant Other? Narcissist. Hamster got the clap? Narcissist. Pork belly futures not looking so good? There’s a narcissist involved, somehow.
The latest one seems to be “gaslighting”.
These days occurrences which would normally be easily-explained by absentmindedness are immediately “Straight to gas-lighting, do not pass go, do not collect $200.”
It’s annoying.
What’s even more annoying — and a wee bit worrying — is the over-use of the phrase “gas-lighting” is causing us to willfully ignore full-on instances of gas-lighting that are happening to us right in front of our eyes.
As a cynic, and a history buff — but I repeat myself — I put very little faith in the media to do anything other than perpetuate itself. “Yellow Journalism” anyone?
However, recently … bloody hell.
The Legacy Media was in lock-step, singing paeans to the “sharp as a tack” mental acuity of President Biden. Until, suddenly, they couldn’t. Has anyone in the Legacy Media fallen on their sword for that abject failure? Taken any sort of responsibility, of any kind?
Hell, I’m in Texas, and I’ve been making “Non Compos Alpo” jokes about Biden for years now, I find it hard to believe that alleged “professional” “journalists” living in the same sodding zip-code couldn’t see it.
Anyone besides me remember the Legacy Media chanting “horse dewormer” regarding ivermectin? Despite ivermectin being on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines for literally decades, being used to treat river blindness, scabies, elephantiasis, trichinosis, malaria, leishmaniasis, and literally scores of other infections in humans … the Legacy Media decided to deride this miracle medicine as “horse dewormer”.
Has anyone in the Legacy Media given a public apology, then retreated to their office to Do The Right Thing? Taken any sort of responsibility, of any kind?
Now, Legacy Media is announcing that the economy is actually all ok. CNN today had a article about how “slower inflation is boosting American’s confidence.”
Horse. Feathers.
I’m retired, so I’m drawing my pension from the Texas County and District Retirement System. It’s a decent little monthly cheque.
On top of my pension I’m having to work a full-time job, Rita has a full-time job (and hauling down all the overtime she can get), and we’re both getting some royalty cheques from our books. Those five cheques keep our household treading water in this “confident economy”.
I’m here to tell you that when two #1 combos from McDonald’s to feed a traveling couple costs almost $30 — your economy is in the khazi. And the “Hail fellow well met” grin you wear while lying to us about how things are actually great isn’t really all that convincing.
Anyone else remember the prim expressions when the Legacy Media chidingly informed us that Hunter Biden’s embarrassing little laptop was “Russian disinformation”?
Well, there definitely was some disinformation involved there.
Has anyone in Legacy Media taken any sort of responsibility, of any kind, for that lovely little bit of bushwa?
The latest is Legacy Media informing us quite haughtily that Haitian immigrants are not eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio.
I’m going to be quite honest here — I really didn’t think that folks from Haiti were actually eating people’s dogs and cats … but given the Legacy Media’s track record of — let’s be quite honest here — gas-lighting the American public … now I’m not so sure.
The current cynical joke is something along the lines of: When the Media denies something, it’s two months away from being proven correct.
This can not continue. This gas-lighting of the public by the Legacy Media is toxic to society, and has to stop. One way or another.
And that scares me. The thought of the ultimate response to a Media which — occasionally openly and proudly — engages in gas-lighting the society in which they must exist, in which they should serve, in which they must function …
… I’ve seen a response to journalists and Media commonly thought by the society to be corrupt. And that way lies madness, fire, and screams.
But I don’t know how to stop them. And I’m not sure that Legacy Journalists and Legacy Media they work for want to be stopped.
Madness.
LawDog