When you make it a habit not to make television a habit, you don't get blindsided by news that the well-paid, well-dressed financial reporters for network television are really televangelists by any other name. And while watching Jon Stewart scold Jim Cramer might deliver a modicum of catharsis to those of us with tenuous job security and dwindling RRSPs, the spectacle of it all is little more than a distraction.
Cramer is like most people who acquire his level of fame and wealth: he traded in what character he had to become a Personality. You could almost say he forfeited his soul to gain the world. I'm not shedding any tears over his public humiliation. But if we're going to live through this we'll have to shift our attention from the unsightly melanomas and address the tumors in the liver.
I've been following the Cramer-Stewart thing over the internet. It was entertaining, whatever else you may say of it.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch Cramer's show either, but he seems like a likable enough guy. Certainly there are a lot worse crooks out there in the world who deserve a scolding.
I think the big problem is, as Jon Stewart alluded to briefly before he got off topic, the target of the anger should be people like Cramer's colleague Rick Santelli, who gets self righteous complaining about people who can't pay off their mortage while being part of a network that encouraged the bad business practices. To the extent that the public scolding of Cramer represented this larger phenomonon, it was pleasing to watch.
That, and just the pleasure one gets of seeing a razor sharp debating mind at it's finest form. I tell you, what I wouldn't give to be able to think on my feet as quickly as Jon Stewart.
Santelli's blend of hate-mongering and financial advice invites a sharper response than a public scolding. But his attitude is little more than a quaint pose next to the AIG suits.
ReplyDeleteHey, when are you going to review Nixonland?
It does look pretty interesting. To be honest my reading list is a bit backed up these days, but if and when I do read it I'll be sure and post a review
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