Back in the 1980s, I remember watching part of a documentary that was as much a satire of the genre as the real deal. It was focused on the pop culture events of the day, presenting them as though the documentary was being assembled sometime in the future, thus looking back at what were then current events and personalities through a historical-refracting prism. One of the personalities featured was, naturally, Madonna. Voicing over a truly wretched early lip-sync video of hers, the narrator intoned, “She couldn’t sing, she couldn’t dance, and she couldn’t act. All she could do was be.”
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I was reminded of this and a line from the song “Boy in the Bubble” by Paul Simon while reading Nick Arama’s excellent dissection of Leslie Stahl’s astonishing lack of perception and Van Jones’ slightly more perceptive lament as to why legacy media has lost its grip on molding the American consciousness.
It’s a turn-around jump shot
It’s everybody jump start
It’s every generation throws another hero up the pop charts
MORE: WATCH: Van Jones and Lesley Stahl Bemoaning Death of Legacy Media Is Something to See
Since the days of Cain and Abel, every generation of humanity has set forth with a steely resolve to reinvent the wheel. Well, once someone noticed that mixing a tiny bit of carbon with iron created a much stronger metal, someone else noticed that rolling a round-shaped item was far easier than dragging stuff everywhere. You get the idea.
Despite the abovementioned belief that every generation that has been, is, or is to come holds during its turn in the sun that it is The Fresh, Inventive, and Utterly Non-Derivative People of the Shining Now, a weary Solomon was right. There is nothing new under the sun. Its turn will soon come to pass as it plays the villain in a Scooby-Doo cartoon, decrying capture stemming from the interference of those meddlesome kids. Next week, last week’s meddlesome kids will be the villain, not the victorious. And so on until Christ returns.
Referring back to the line about Madonna’s noticeable lack of talent save that of endless self-reinvention and self-promotion, one thinks about today’s social media influencers. There was a time when, via individual wealthy patrons, later replaced by entertainment industry corporate entities, a filter existed through which art and artists had to pass to have so much as a chance at wide recognition, let alone acceptance. In today’s DIY world, we are presently bombarded with reminders of the internet’s synchronized beauty and horror: while fortunately, everyone can get online to whatever degree they wish, unfortunately, so can anyone.
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There is something of a “people’s voice” foundation at work here. The corporate world didn’t pick Joe Rogan’s podcast to have such a massive audience; the listeners did. The entertainment industry didn’t set forth Kai Cenat as a master humorist for our time; the people who live on and for the online world did. The measurement of approval and disapproval’s scope is clicks toward and away from these people. Career longevity is not a realistic goal for today’s self-made, for while most have at least some measure of talent, it is limited in scope and duration. They will soon simultaneously age out while burning out their audience as their shtick’s lack of depth becomes plain to even the dreariest dullard soaking in whatever is trendy on TikTok or Twitch. You can milk fame through mere existence only so long. The bag of gimmicks will run dry.
While the utter cluelessness of the Leslie Stahls and Van Joneses of this world is fuel for a richly deserved derisive laugh, they should take heart in knowing that even as they fade, so will their present-day replacements. The difference between the two groups is that one sits on a throne of liberal lies while the other precariously balances atop a fatally flawed tower of “look at MEEEEE!” At least the latter occasionally manages some level of self-reflection and thought; cases in point being Joe Rogan’s move to the right and Russell Brand’s move to not only the right but also the Person of Christ. On second thought, perhaps Stahl and Jones should not take heed. Despite its self-obsession, the new media occasionally grows up and grows a heart. Legacy media, not so much.
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