General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: From Al Franken with Thanks. [View all]DemocracyMouse
(2,275 posts)We dont teach media and arts literacy in this media-saturated country. We are fat like the Christmas goose with music, film, fashion, video games, household product designs, etc. Yet we dont know how to understand or discuss any of it. We just grunt our likes and our dislikes and we zero in on whether we relate to the personalities involved. Theres little analysis of the form or content because we lack the linguistic tools. As students we rarely rehearsed the behavior of critiquing art, design and media.* (*see embodied cognition).
THEREFORE we are unable to see the difference between Trump ACTUALLY cheating on his wife just after his youngest son was born (and paying hush money to silence the story) and Al Franken MOCKING what soldiers might think about during a comedy tour. Trump actually transgressed. He scared one under-age girl from taking him to court. Al Franken was doing VAUDEVILLE when that photo was taken. The woman he was performing with had been literally slapping the ass of one of the musicians on stage. She grabbed another with her legs. Her actions were even caught on video. Again, Vaudeville. Its all satire, which in point of fact is a light-hearted CRITIQUE of the acts being performed.
Had Ameirica actually had an education system run by teachers instead of overpaid, profit-focused administrators, it would have never fallen for Roger Stones tricks. (He urged the co-vaudevillian to pull out that old snapshot and pretend it wasnt satire).
Maybe Mueller will expose these truths when he investigates Roger Stone. But the US public, Gillibrand, et al, should have seen the obvious: theres a difference between satire and the real thing. Even Frankens friendly squeezes during a photo op would be neutralized if schools still taught waltzing and other dance forms. Touching, even squeezing, a persons waist or shoulders during a photo shoot is a wholesome expression of group affection. Some cultures, like Frankens old-school yiddish theater culture, are more affectionate in these rituals than others. But even WASPS get touchy-feely on occasion. What have we become? Isolated pods sealed off in cubicles with nothing but simulated reality to impart a sense of humanity? Good grief, as Charle Brown used to say,
We have truly become the nation Mike Judge portrayed in his film Idiocracy. I recommend it as a delightful and edifying Thanksgiving entertainment.
Peace.
Remember the Native Americans.