The US Has Become A Reality-Optional Society
Content adapted from this Zerohedge.com article : Source
Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
The hysteria manufacturing business formerly known as the news media is enjoying multiple orgasms this morning in the outing of notoriously vulgar comedian Louis CK for exactly the sort of vulgar behavior offstage that he riffed about onstage. What a surprise.
We also learn today that Jeremy Piven, beloved and admired for his role as a bimbo-berating Hollywood agent in the HBO comedy Entourage, is alleged to have groped a starlet in his trailer. Or was he just doggedly staying in character between set-ups? And what was she doing there, anyway? Stopping by to share the everything bagel with jalapeño cream cheese that she picked up at craft services?
I suppose these guys will be joining Kevin Spacey in his new dinner theater in Tampa, since they'll never work in Hollywood again, and surely they have bills to pay, especially to their lawyers.
Hollywood itself, being the vulgar place it has always been, must be nervously awaiting the inevitable next phase of this melodrama: when various actresses, and other women around the biz, are revealed to be sluts who screwed and blew their way to stardom — not to put too fine a point on it. Surely a few ladies out there have misbehaved in the way that ladies can, trading favors for fame and fortune — or do you suppose that never happens? Or only when men force them to? (Anyway, don't count on hearing about that in The New York Times.)
Then the whole prurient cavalcade of cross-allegation and litigation will be as forgotten as a mass slaughter in Las Vegas, or Texas, or Lower Manhattan, and it will be back to business-as-usual in the news racket: nattering about contacts with Russia, a faraway land that, we're told, is determined to corrupt the morals of our shining city on a hill.
The metamorphosis of the news business from a dignified and necessary component of the public interest to a gong and geek show is now complete. Some of you may remember that it used to be the task of news organizations to actually gather the news from far and wide. When Walter Cronkite came over the airways on CBS news, he "anchored" the revolving team of reporters in the field: we go to Marvin Kalb in Moscow… Fred Graham in Atlanta… Peter Kalischer in Paris… Lesley Stahl in New York…. Do you know what those people were doing? They were reporting the news on site, because it was important to actually be in the places where events were happening and talking to the people involved in them. And, by the way, do you think Marvin Kalb made contact with Russians? Or perhaps reported on other fellow Americans in contact with Russians? (And that was back in the Cold War, when Russia was run by the wicked Boris and Natasha).
Turn on Anderson Cooper on CNN these days and what do you get: "And now lets turn to our panel for analysis." Our panel? Analysis? A gang of moonlighting kibitzers with an opinion about what might have actually happened in the world that day, which none of them have been busy actually reporting on. The transformation on the cable networks especially has been insidious. Not so distantly as the days of the Iraq War, CNN checked in every night with Christiane Amanpour, the last of the great foreign correspondents, roving about the Middle East. Do these so-called news organizations even employ any reporters anymore?
I don't think so. Perhaps the most important story of the decade is the developing meltdown of governance and authority in Saudi Arabia and a Defcon Red level of potential for major war breaking out between them and Iran. How many reporters do the cable networks have in Riyadh today? What's on CNN's home page this morning? Boy dies after eating grilled cheese; _Why men use masturbation to harass women; _and the lead under their "Top Stories" banner: 'Magnum, P.I.' actor John Hillerman dies. Maybe you can find a clue in here why the USA has become a reality-optional society. Maybe it's the American news media that actually has its dick in its hand.
Great post. As ever, JH Kunstler is spot on with his incisive observations of the current state of affairs in the good ol' USA.
And his writing is always excellent, such that reading his work is a joy. Except for the horror of the subject matter, that is.
I could say the same. I had few good laughs (way more than I've had with the so called comedian Louis CK) but when I think about what it means, It's really sad. I might not live in "The Land of the Free" but I'm still a part of this planet and since NASA has too much inclusivity up its bottom and Elon Musk is screwed by TSLA Model 3 porduction targets, I'm pretty sure we are all stuck in this planet.
Hopefully we'd see a full blown Atlas Shrugged scenario fast and have it end quick. Blockchain technology will be our Galt's Gulch.
Good points. I'm Canadian, and have lived in Asia for close to 3 decades. Often, we get a better view of what's happening in the USSA from way over here. We don't have the mainstream media controlling all the info that comes out, so it can be said that we have a clearer idea of what's happening.
One thing that is quite clear (from JHK and others) is that US hegemony is over. Asia, Russia, and more will proceed as they choose, not as the US wants. Their abandonment of the petrodollar is the first step.
Yes, blockchain / DLT and all the related changes will help us on our way to freedom. or to more freedom.
p.s. I never found Louis CK very funny.
In many Asian countries people don't even entertain the possibility of 24X7 news. News is just a part of the normal channels. They compete for attention in morning, afternoon and evening news resulting in more quality and useful news. The cultures are also very non-PC. In my country most people don't even know what feminism is.
China is growing well but not on merits but on the sins that they don't commit. China will be the next global power. But it wouldn't be an undisputed power. The growth of China is only sustainable is because most people are poor and growing into middle class. They may sustain things for another 25 years without problem.
Russia has both good and bad stuff going on like the mixed signals regarding cryptocurrency and the corruption problems. Japan is suffering because of using stupid economic policies that follow USSA.
I see hope in Singapore, Estonia, Georgia, Switzerland, HK(maybe) and only regarding economic side of things, UAE and Qatar.
PS:
good post
I don't honestly know...I often look for that point myself...in the way one usually asks himself where the hell did it go wrong?
But I haven't a clue.
And I am certain there are many women in Hollywood who have done just that. As the disgraced Weinstein himself said, it's what they do. It's how that industry is built. Both on what the men do and what the women do...funny that you only hear about the men.
America has the largest internal democracy. Also, America is making the biggest external dictatorship. Free society, comedy and reality, your texts have the dynamics of pre-pausing to fun.
Thanks for posting this @zer0hedge. I am sorry to see that you havent been posting as much of late. I come to your blog to get caught up on my news around the world...since I dont believe the MSM on any matter other than maybe what the best make up to buy is.
It is all a propaganda machine meant to demonize and enslave. There is an agenda behind everything that is done. Watch a film or T.V. show and you can see the message. It is right there, hidden in plain sight. They attack everything that is "wholesome and decent" while espousing the deviant. Now I am all for freedom of choice and people doing their thing, but we know the agenda is not about freedom. It is about control. Break down the foundation and insert themselves into it.
And that is what happened.