The Sad Theatre Kids of Right-Wing Media
I know Fox News hosts and their guests are mostly thought of as pro-authoritarian propagandists, Russian assets, and white nationalist race-baiters. And I’m not arguing they’re not! Many are, apparently. But you may also want to consider that, for the most part, they’re just theatre kids, as well. I don’t mean to defend the bile Fox News bots spew out—we are each of us responsible for our words and actions. I’m pointing out that people who hiss and rage for the camera are, for the most part, not deep thinkers. They’re show people, carnies, extremely well-paid bullshit artists. They’re actors, playing a role.
These are people who read other people’s words and then immediately forget what it was that they said. These hosts will happily represent the hateful views of malign political forces as long as it means their name appears on a chyron.
All of the right-wing personalities I met over the years were positively giddy in the greenroom. Vulnerable and jumpy, anxiously waiting for a producer with a headset to tell us we’re about to go on or for a mellow, seen-it-all crew member to clip on microphones and earpieces. The energy before a high school production of Godspell and a spot on Fox News are eerily similar, with one primary difference: Godspell is a feel-good musical, whereas Fox News, like all of right-wing media, is a 24-hour-a-day experiment in catering to true believers while manipulating the opposition. If you aren’t someone who belongs to a country club or a megachurch or a Silicon Valley start-up, these theatre kids are hoping to make you feel not just bad, but afraid—a fear that, ideally, convinces you that all is lost, and not to vote.
