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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DMaA who wrote (154228)	1/9/2006 9:56:04 AM
From: ig	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793915

It's one thing to poke fun at public figures such as politicians; it's another to vilify large groups of regular people. Rush has made a career of slamming not just liberal politicians, but also "liberals" in general. In the quarter-century before Rush, was there any major media figure enjoying great success sending up liberals? No, I didn't think so. So, in a limited sense, Rush "started" something. However, before Rush, during the Nixon years, slamming conservatives was common in the media. Where was the hugely successful conservative equivalent to TV shows like Laugh-In? The Smothers Brothers? All in the Family? So when Rush showed up, using the devices of the lefties to lampoon lefties, it was sensational. The Silent Majority, which had allowed the abuse they'd been suffering in the popular media since the Nixon years to go largely unanswered, finally had someone on their side who could answer in kind, someone who delighted in getting down and dirty against the satiric champions of the Left, and they loved it. But then again, just as Rush's material was a reaction against the stuff he saw growing up in the 60s, Laugh-In and the Smothers Brothers was a reaction against the "square" world of the 50s. I don't know who was getting the short end of the dominant media shtick in the 50s, but I'll bet it wasn't conservatives. So the pendulum of popular partisanry has been swinging back and forth over the decades, but it's coming to a stop. Everything now is in fashion all at once, thanks to the new age of communication we are enjoying. Watching the latest developments in the art and science of political persuasion -- the ongoing Battle For The Hearts And Minds Of Everyone -- is fascinating, and everyone is getting into the act: webmasters, bloggers, video-bloggers, podcasters, you name it. We are entering revolutionary times.