I must admit to tuning out whenever I hear any politician or media personality refer to Americans as “everyday”, “average” and “ordinary”. To label people with those specific adjectives implies they believe they are superior to the rest of us, to which we can only ask how they could come to such a conclusion?
Pure arrogance, but based on what?
In September of 1990 when I got a job in the upstart Fox Broadcasting Company (pre-Fox Sports and Fox News), one of the first things I noticed was how some people believed they had to “dumb” things down for their audience. Think about the inflated sense of self it takes to assume you’re smarter than millions of people simply because of where you work.
I experienced that attitude throughout my dozen years in Hollywood and that sense of disdain for those who consume their products resulted in simplistic and insulting programming like “Honey Boo Boo” and almost everything on TLC. Do you really think these people would create demeaning productions of those in their industry or neighborhood? No, but they seek out the easily exploitable so they can laugh at us behind our backs and boost their fragile egos.
In the world of politics, we have an elected class that has no problem lying to our faces. Because of abused Constitutional protection, they believe they’re smarter than the public and they’ll have a portion of the media class that will cover for them. We can easily point to many in city councils, state legislatures, and even on Capitol Hill who clearly aren’t the brightest or emotionally stable our nation has to offer but they managed to get elected with something that’s coveted by all grifters: trust.
Watch any news or opinion show, local and national, and observe the formula they all use. You’ll never watch those shows the same way again.
After their opening monologues, they introduce a guest, start out with an elongated summary of the topic (to assure us all about how much THEY know) and end it in a way the guest has to respond with “I agree with you…”. The host is thereby validated by the invited expert on the topic. This also validates the host’s value to his or her employer.
However their “values” are only as good as the company cutting their check.
We’ve seen many who were once reporting for a conservative network jump to a liberal one and their rock-solid values suddenly dissolve. “Christian conservative” Alisyn Camerota anchored for Fox News before jumping to CNN. Kaitlan Collins blogged for the conservative Daily Caller out of college, became a White House correspondent and now host at liberal CNN. Shepard Smith anchored at Fox News before coming out with “fagitude” and moving to CNBC. That didn’t last long.
Kinda’ makes you wonder what their values really were prior to their change of venue.
Unlike politicians with elections and term limits, media personnel are imposed on the public and their bios are normally concealed by their employers. How they got to their current positions could be embarrassing once revealed. Experience, lack of, nepotism, sexual fast-track; all are at play when it comes to the media ladder.
News and opinion broadcasts are splattered with hosts showing us pictures of their wives, children, moms, dogs, family celebrations, vacations, etc. They’re just like us so we must appreciate them in return.
Oh, and don’t forget to buy their latest new book!
Equally as insidious are the politicians and officials who find those convenient parachutes once they’re forced out of their government jobs and suddenly realize their sweet paychecks have ended.
We have a conservative nonprofit who absorbs newly out-of-work Republicans despite the damage they may have done to the base. Vice President Mike Pence got a “fellowship” with the Heritage Foundation shortly after leaving office. Former Trump border czar Ken Cuccinelli also wound up there until he could get another lucrative gig doing what he did after he was Virginia Attorney General: securing state delegates around the nation AGAINST Donald Trump in 2016. Yes, he’s doing it again now and people like him continue on because they assume we’re all too stupid to notice and donor dollars pay well.
Former politicians and officials get paid “contributor” gigs at CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and broadcast news, no matter why some are no longer employed and compensated by taxpayers (government pensions notwithstanding). Andrew McCabe, John Bolton, Jennifer Palmieri, Marie Harf, Stephen Moore, John Brennan, Kellyanne Conway, William Barr, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Claire McCaskill and Kayleigh McEnany get to blab away uncontested, simply because they’re considered experienced “experts” who can attempt to redirect an ignorant consumer base towards a preferred and approved narrative.
Why do we have such a political and social chasm between men and women voters?
Well, if you have smug media professionals targeting women with intellectually stimulating programming like “The Today Show”, “Good Morning America”, and “The View”, it’s easy to understand why so many see things differently that the rest of the voting blocks. They trust the information is true despite how ridiculous and error-ridden. They specifically look down on their female audience and play to hyper-emotion over substance.
While talk radio is crowded enough with whiners like Dan Bongino, Mark Levin, Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon and other small market wrist-slitters, everyone and his brother now has a podcast. You know, a product some people pay for to use only once. Talk about a racket.
Podcasts are another vehicle for former politicians, celebrity wannabes and pundit types to fortify your trust in them and others who hope to get a more lucrative media job by out-shocking the competition. They serve as the potential bench of future “talent” to be inflicted on the nation simply because of a dubious social media reach.
Why do we have so many “fact checkers”? Again, because almost all media jobs are dependent on consumers trusting THEM. Anything that may cast doubt on what we’re being told or have been told by the overpaid has to be squelched by all means necessary. Media people seldom admit they’re wrong about anything. 
The Washington Post and New York Times have not given their Pulitzer Prizes back despite their Trump “Russia collusion” coverage being proven bogus. Whenever the media is proven wrong, their contrition seldom matches the initial air horns. Retractions are buried and on-air corrections take up a couple of sentences before the end of the broadcast.
It’s enough to question just how much all of these people, who get paid to share with us their abundant wisdom, really know and really care about us.
There is an on-air persona and an off-air.
Many of these people are truly horrible and genuinely believe we must believe what they say because their lofty salaries depend on it. While they claim to feel the pain their preferred politicians inflict on us, they’re quite comfortable while telling us all is not that bad. They’re the first to agree on the need to start and/or perpetuate a war their prep-schooled children won’t have to participate in. They’re the first to tell us it’s hot in the summer and drinking water is a good idea because they assume we’re that stupid and they’ll save lives. They can afford an electric car as a status symbol to save the planet while their gas range is off limits. They can and will start race violence in the streets (always great video) and go home to a secured, gated community with appropriate protective measures.
They consider themselves of extraordinary value and we should be damn grateful they exist.
And whenever we’re told about something that “the public doesn’t know” (as if we’re expectedly stupid), it’s because those who are lavishly paid declined to inform the American people for whatever partisan objective.
For them to call us “everyday”, “average” or “ordinary”, that translates as we are exploitable, expendable and don’t you forget it.
Don’t get me started on “workers”….