Rheta Grimsley Johnson
The screaming meemies
http://www.jewishworldreview.com | I hear they are ending the political debate show "Crossfire," the one where polarized pundits try to outscreech one another.
The announcement did not make me sad. Like the answer to the joke "What's 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?" It's a start.
All bombastic political TV shows make me nervous, and there are dozens of them. For one thing, the hollering shows are too much like real life.
There's often one participant -- usually a woman or a nerdy liberal, or sometimes the double whammy, a woman liberal -- who cannot get a word in edgewise.
Eleanor Clift of "The McLaughlin Group" is a good example of what I'm talking about. She no doubt would laugh at my concern, seeing how she is a Newsweek editor, a TV and movie celebrity, an author and commands $7,000 or more for speeches. Part of the reason she makes that kind of speaker's fee is because we know her face from "The McLaughlin Group."
I just hate it, however, when poor Eleanor has to raise her voice and sound shrill to talk over the men. I almost can't watch that show because of the way they treat Eleanor. She routinely makes a run at a single sentence about 12 times before finally getting to finish it.
Why she'd want to participate in such verbal mayhem is beyond me. To paraphrase an old saying, when a wise man argues with a fool, it's hard to tell the difference.
There's the matter of common courtesy, forgotten in such get-in-a-quick-quip situations. How rude it is to use a deeper, louder voice to overpower a discussion, even if you're on television.
Most men don't like for women to weigh in about politics, even when the woman agrees with their position, and especially when the woman is 10 times better-versed in the subject than they are. Most men would prefer the women to take an after-dinner beauty nap, a la "Gone With the Wind," while the guys have their brandy, cigars and heated political discussions.
That's OK by me. I'd sure rather nap than argue, and I don't smoke. I don't dig screaming, either, which seems to be a television staple.
Even early in the morning, on so-called news shows, hundreds of people stand in the cold, behind a weatherman yet, to scream hello to friends and family back home.
If my friends and family saw me hollering on a TV show from New York City, they'd call 911. At least I hope they would.
Television relies on hollering, screaming, screeching, babbling and those ubiquitous, annoying laugh tracks. Someone on TV is always bellowing "Come on down!" or "Jerry! Jerry!" or "Bye-bye!"
Nobody talks in a measured, calm voice, except for evening news anchors, a dying breed. Local news readers giggle and flirt and segue from murder to merriment with an ease that is disturbing.
For the life of me, I still cannot understand why Democratic candidate Howard Dean's primary rant was singled out as crazy. His boisterous, loud approach should have fit right in with all the other twisted shouting that's prevalent in today's society. Dean did what millions of others have done before: He lost it on TV.
I've said this before: The root of all evil is TV. It makes otherwise sensible people act like fools. They will say, do or scream anything to appear on the small screen.
Why that's so, I do not know. I simply know it's true.
If you'll stand out in freezing rain to hold a poster board that says, "Hello, Katie," then you're certifiable. But, then, you're probably not running for president.
Comment on Rheta Grimsley Johnson's column by clicking here.
01/05/05: This year
12/28/04: My yard for a library
12/15/04: FREE MARTHA!
11/22/04: A rare and true comfort
11/15/04: eBay effort gobbled up
10/21/04: And now, representing the United States ...
10/14/04: A day in the life of an ‘undecided voter’
07/29/04: Honorariums from the heart are best
07/22/04: Something cold, something new
07/15/04: The simple life, Cajun style
07/08/04: You simply didn't strike out on family vacation in a dirty Buick
07/02/04: I fuss and cuss but know where my heart is