HBO has done some good things, like Rome and Game of Thrones. But this is one of the most appalling things I have seen in a long time. There is an HBO program called “True Blood” that apparently is about vampires–way to be cutting edge, right? In its most recent episode, it featured a Ted Cruz fundraiser at the George W. Bush presidential library. In the clip below, you can see the characters discussing the fact that only “assholes” are going to the Ted Cruz event, while a woman, having dressed for the event, describes herself as a “Republicunt.” The clip concludes with a vampire saying that of all the horrible things he has seen in the last 100 years, the Ted Cruz fundraiser is the worst.
First the video, then some comments:
1) The show’s producers invited Sarah Palin to appear in the episode, apparently for additional “Republicunt” titillation. She declined. These people are beneath beneath contempt.
2) Every time you think the culture can’t possibly sink any lower, it does. But the decline is not uniform: it is inconceivable that any commercial media outlet would describe those who attend a Hillary Clinton fundraiser as “assholes,” or refer to “Democunts,” or whatever the word might be. If, by some chance, such a thing were to happen, it is impossible to imagine the outrage that would follow. That wouldn’t be just a war on (liberal) women, it would be gender genocide.
3) Outrages like this one can’t be attributed to commercial motives. Why would producers of a television program deliberately alienate at least 1/3 of their potential viewers? Well, OK, it is probably less than a third–Republicans aren’t likely to be watching a dumb show about vampires who use bad language in the first place. But still: by any calculation of profit and loss, it is stupid to antagonize members of either major party. This kind of thing is purely ideological.
4) What is it about Ted Cruz? In a very short time, he has achieved a sort of heroic status on the Left. It is greatly to his credit, but I can’t quite figure out how he has done it. Among liberals he seems to be code for something, I am not sure what.
5) There is a serious purpose behind this demonization of Republicans. Many have wondered how the Obama administration keeps its head above water, given its awful record. Likewise, how does a party led by such laughable figures as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi remain competitive in Congress? Democrats can’t talk about their records, so they do what they can: they demonize Republicans. While “True Blood” is an extreme instance, a large proportion of “mainstream” news reporting serves the same purpose. The Democrats may be bad, the media want ill-informed voters to say, but at least they aren’t Republicans! Or Republicunts, a term that is perfectly acceptable within a certain degraded demographic–a demographic that votes overwhelmingly Democratic.
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