Fuckin’ Al Gore. Fuckin’ Media.

Al Gore wrote an article for Rolling Stone in the issue I just got. It’s about, to some measure or another, global warming, the media’s complicity in doubting global warming veracity, politicians insatiable need for campaign funds, the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, the invasion of Iraq, the banking crisis, and other fun subjects. It’s not a very good article. It’s all over the place, seemingly a directionless screed that I understand as a liberal but can’t respect as a writer.

I hate the mass media; MSNBC kills me every time, and Fox is, well, Fox. But I’ve had something rolling around in my head for a little while that Gore’s article brought up again. “Throughout American history, we relied on the vibrancy of our public square — and the quality of our democratic discourse — to make better decisions than most nations in the history of the world.”

This, I think, it a verifiably stupid argument. When I look at media in the past I don’t see the golden age like he does. I see William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. I see an incredibly ignorant populous back then just as now. Modern media might — might — be louder, but I don’t know if it’s truly worse. It’s weird for me to see a liberal make the same fire and brimstone argument of a nation in decline as conservatives make against social legislation. Because in spite of all the shit that goes down I don’t think we’re in decline, I think we’re just trying to make changes, no more or less than it was “back in the day.”

I’m not used to defending media. I’m not even sure if I am. But I do think that Al Gore is screaming fire in a movie theater just like Pat Buchanan or Bill O’Reilly. And that’s boring, and ineffectual.

The Hacks!

One day, I would like to finally figure out what I think I’m doing when I decide to watch MSNBC in the morning. Each time, I end up either pissed at politicians, pissed at the hacks who create this news, or just genuinely confused. This morning it was confused.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with Morning Joe, it’s a round-table style discussion populated by such luminaries as former three-term Republican Rep. Joe Scarborough, fleshy ole Pat Buchanan, former Gov. Ed Rendell (a new, pleasant addition), another interchangeable blond woman with a vaguely Eastern European name I can never remember, and creepy little 20something named Willy.

I mention that Ed Rendell’s coming on the show is a pleasant addition simply because I like watching the guy talk, even more so when I know he has no actual power. David McCullough came on today to publicize his new book about the French influence on America and American culture, and reminded folks that Rochambeau’s army at Yorktown was bigger than Washington’s. From off screen, you can hear Ed saying “Is that so?” and when the cut to him, his got his grin on, shaking his head from side to side, gee.

Commercial break: Lawrence O’Donnell sitting on a teacher’s desk in an empty classroom, making a plea for understanding for the children who have to enter a classroom from a life of privation instead of privilege. “MSNBC: Lean Forward” It’s not a bad little speech, except for the fact that O’Donnell is apparently talking to someone off to the side of camera, exactly like Michele Bachmann in that hilarious and frightening Tea Party response to the State of the Union. The only difference: O’Donnell is looking to the left.

I turned the TV off.