There it was, on the front page above the fold of my morning paper in big headlines: ‘I will not let you down’. Egad…this must be serious, one would think, especially since the banner was accompanied by a picture of a weeping young woman and more pictures and copy, all of which took up half the front page. Well over half of page 8, with another huge picture, was devoted to the subject, giving it an importance surely equal to that of the Iraq War. A state-trooper’s death in the line of duty took a small corner of the front page, but, after all, the loss of a life couldn’t compare with the loss of a tiara…could it?
Well, of course! This was just the latest installment of the “riveting” Tara Connor/Donald Trump saga (his picture also on the front page above the fold), remarking the latest bit of sleaze by the nation’s top gambler and female cheesecake entrepreneur and featuring the latest attraction in his feminine meat market. Trump brought the current Miss USA, Tara Connor, the so-called country-girl from small Russell Springs, Ky., (population 2,500), to New York as part of his magnificent menagerie of mannequins and then threatened to throw her out of the clambake because she brought reproach upon the good name of Miss Universe (but more importantly, The Donald).
One wonders, of course, what the actual facts of the matter are. Trump has had the young lady appear quite publicly in some…well…exotic poses with less than one percent of her body covered – apparently his idea of art/entertainment/education/example – and then accused her, after presenting her as a tramp, of acting like one…sort of a Trump-Tramp. The inevitable happened, of course, as Trump knew it would. The networks, especially TV, grabbed the story and pictures hook, line, and sinker and awarded the Donald with more free publicity than he could ever have hoped for.
What this says for the “NEWS” media is that it has capitulated to what it deems the psyche of the American public, to wit, SLEAZE JIVES, BABY! The morning shows are never seen by this corner unless there’s a war on, but the word is that this “happening” has been aces-high (Trump-speak for a real lollapalooza) concerning the attention it’s been awarded. It’s even been given premier treatment on the high-profile Talking-Head shows on both radio and TV, including – especially including – Cable…O’Reilly, for goodness’ sake!
Well…maybe the media folks have sold the public a little short. Most people see through this stuff – okay, hopefully. Still, when one considers what CBS did with Dan Rather’s Air Guard typewriter-fraud account, it may be that the verdict is not gullibility…maybe it’s just plain incompetence…or worse, collusion (gasp) with the Donald. There’s money to be made out there…and how could a juicier way be found than to put a virtually naked gal on the boob (uh-oh) tube, accuse her of sleeping around, drinking hard liquor, doing drugs, and – oh yes – not being a good role model for all those innocent little high-school sophomores…even fourth-graders?
The whole thing is sickening, of course. The “Miss Universe” concept (nudity for sale!) demeans women, making them appear to be what they insist they’re not – sex objects. The members of the meat market CHOOSE to be just that – sex objects. That’s what Trump chooses them to be, and manipulating and exploiting them as sex objects is to him, apparently, a fine way to make a buck. Otherwise, he would have his goddesses appear fully clothed, playing their violins, quoting a bit of – if not scripture – at least part of the Gettysburg Address, and imploring all young girls to be just like them…the godesses. How many bucks would that bring in?
Okay…one way to find out is to institute a Mr. (or Master or Whatever) Universe program and see how many shekels that will supply. The guys come out in their jock straps, assume a delightful pose, groin (egad!) make that grin at the audience – okay, the old bump-and-grind – and drink nothing harder than Kool-Aid. Their bump-and-grind, compared to that of the Misses, might energize the audience to a show of enthusiasm roughly equivalent to that of a black bear in hibernation. The Trump/Connor saga will go on, of course – just too good to pass up…the shekel-count, that is.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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