Pylimitics

"Simplicity" rearranged


Theater of the Absurd

Just like the Republican presidential campaign, apparently everything is TV now:

…a 27-year-old social media huckster, beat a 58-year-old man with a long history of health problems, both physically and mentally, in a boxing ring late on Friday night.

Meanwhile, Dave Winer observed a campaigning shift by the Repubs, who:

“…didn’t worry what Jake Tapper or Ezra Klein would think, so came off as more genuine. It’s a TV show, acting and suspension of disbelief are what count. It has nothing to do with anything else.

And why, I wonder, has Biden never gotten credit for the pretty significant things he’s accomplished? Heather Cox Richardson has a quick summary.

I think Biden (and other Democrats) have been denied credit because of the ju-jitsu successfully used for years by the anti progressives to turn the media (which they pretend to hate, while loving, manipulating, and purchasing) into another mossbacked reactionary force.

Musk, as he repeatedly demonstrates but to very little notice, is a big noise but he, personally, seems to offer very little substance. He posted a list of items of “federal government waste” that (he says) amount to over $900 billion. If that’s the sort of thing he’s planning to target in his new “government efficiency” (job? department? assignment? marketing department?), he’s going to come up a bit short on results. Because look at the biggest two items on the list: servicing the debt and “overpayments.” Those two things account for $895 billion, or 99.4% of the total. He can’t do anything about interest payments, and the “overpayments” is a vague and qualitative term that probably includes opinions like “that specialized tool for Air Force One cost too much.” Musk has never seemed like a detail guy — just look closely at the fit and finish on a Tesla car or truck for confirmation.

This all has a very strange feel to me. I don’t have that much experience with TV, and haven’t even had cable for many years. I guess you can still use an antenna for TV, not to mention a dish, but nope, haven’t done that either. I think the last time I actually owned and watched a “television” (here I’m making a distinction from a “screen”) was more than 20 years ago. I’ve caught glimpses here and there, of course, but how do people stand for the advertising? The other strangeness is the movie Idiocracy, which is starting to seem horrifyingly real.



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About Me

I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.