America's addiction to awful people

[marmar]

America's addiction to awful people
What an interview with the scammer of our times, George Santos, says about America

By ANDREW JONES
PUBLISHED JANUARY 2, 2024 5:29AM (EST)


(Salon) It may be a new year, but America remains mired in a myriad of national dysfunction. The list is endless: A close ally continues to an immoral human rights disaster, Republican madness is ramping up at the behest of Donald Trump and we suffered through yet another return by the father of North and Saint West who shall not be named deciding to take fashion inspiration from the Ku Klux Klan for his latest “give me attention” moment.

But if there is one thing that is truly emblematic of our society in the United States that fully encapsulates our preference for vain flash instead of solid substance, it is the desperate decision by former Showtime comedy personality Ziwe Fuhmode to pursue and conduct an interview with the scammer of our times, George Santos.

....(snip)....

And therein lies that humorous yet disturbing truth of our current times. Santos, a person normally immune to a life of truth, correctly called Ziwe out for why she would pursue a sit-down talk with him knowing that he is the ultimate loathsome charlatan. Her sometimes annoying desire to feel much more superior, more sophisticated and cooler than the other person that’s adjacent to her interrogations had come back to bite her.Although it is not repulsive like Santos’ narcissism, Ziwe’s ego of trying to remind us all how superior she is leads to her in this unwanted interview becoming the butt of her own joke, thanks to Santos’ unwavering shamelessness. The shiny objects of viewership traffic, shared posts and retweeted clips, along with the joy of dunking all over Santos, were the only goals for Ziwe here. And the first part of that mission was accomplished. Her Santos interview easily became her most viewed YouTube video 24 hours after it was published, and her first million-viewed video on the site. It also provided big numbers for her TikTok and IG pages, and now thought pieces about it like the one you are currently reading.

....(snip)....

America’s overall, problematic desire to entertain, tolerate and even worship toxic, irredeemable people reaches new nadirs daily, with this meeting becoming the latest entry in that depressing list. With Santos’ fitting hero, the Disaster-in-Tweet (Trump), remaining a frightening political force as he still simultaneously faces jail time in a variety of different ways, 2024 does not look promising to this country curbing its addiction to provenly awful characters. As Salon’s Melanie McFarland recently wrote of Santos, he’s “nakedly performing the strategy that may return Donald Trump to power and, more frightfully, keep him there, which is that he follows orders like a champ.” .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/01/02/americas-addiction-to-awful-people/

[marble falls]

1. We love oddballs, but over time it's merged into off the charts and not in a good way.

[tanyev]

2. Yes, what is the deal with that?

I thought all the awful reality TV shows would disappear pretty quickly, but there are a lot of people who just love them.

[Midnight Writer]

3. Reminds me of the Luke and Laura "romance" years ago.

Luke and Laura consummated their relationship with Luke raping her, but it was OK, because America loved it and beside, everyone knows Laura was secretly "Begging for it". America's appetite for this "romance" between a rapist and his victim was so strong that it broke viewing records and culminated in a spectacular wedding episode.

The fascination with Trump always reminded me of the adoration of fictional J R Ewing, a rich businessman who made everyone around him miserable, but America loved him.

America's love of "bad boys" and awful people is not new.