Media Madness Over A Funeral Chat
The media simply cannot help itself. They are absolutely determined to make us more divided than ever. I was particularly annoyed by the media’s field day with the imagery from Jimmy Carter’s funeral. Kamala Harris gave some stern looks at a few folks, there was an apparent handshake snub between Donald Trump and former Second Lady Karen Pence, and the most talked-about clip: an 11-second interaction between former President Obama and President-elect Trump.
The talking heads were out in full force, losing their minds that these two men had the audacity to have a friendly conversation at a funeral. Almost as soon as the clip hit social media, political commentators were on the case, attempting to lip-read what the former presidents could possibly be giggling about. Of course, parody accounts shared some funny clips in good fun—but some folks completely lost it.
How could Obama talk to a man who made a career of lying about him to the American people? What could Trump have said to make him smile and laugh? What nefarious scheme was being discussed? Have we been duped? Were these two in cahoots the whole time?
Idiotic nonsense. See for yourself.
Inside Edition’s 120-Second Sensationalism
Inside Edition manages to cram into less than 120 seconds what will lead to several days of some of the stupidest discourse imaginable. In the clip, they claim to have already deciphered the chat, concluding that Obama and Trump discussed the need to meet about an important matter. Of course, you can immediately pick up on Inside Edition‘s ominous framing of what that meeting could be about.
Give me a break. If there are five men in the world who should get a pass on any interaction among themselves, it’s those who have been the goddamn President of the United States. The sixth man, of course, was the late former president, now lying in a coffin 25 feet in front of them.
It’s A Funeral
Give it a rest. Just for one day. The pandemic really did a number on us—so much so that we can’t even go to a funeral and have a laugh without the media’s insatiable need to squeeze out as much content as possible. The American people deserve better from the press. It’s a funeral. Some expected fireworks, and when they got a chat and a laugh instead, they created something out of nothing. It was so much of nothing, that even Donald Trump seemed surprised when asked about it later at a press conference. “I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network just a little while ago before I came in, and I said, ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other,’” he added. “And we probably do.”
If you expected some kind of spectacle at Jimmy Carter’s funeral, you probably need to rethink your profession. It’s a funeral.
Yes, I see the irony of writing about it here—so don’t bother pointing it out.
