Hello and welcome to Sean Hannity is God.
Please join me as we partake in His Holy Sacrament, the Body and Blood of Hannity, the Bread of Heaven. Kneel in penitence at the alter of His Spectacle... for we are all humble supplicants.
To say the least, this venture is highly overdue. As a concerned, but contentedly aloof critic of media politics, I had long been self-satisfied to grumble quietly and derisively to myself and to a fairly intimate group of friends- part of me still is. However, as conditions clearly began to deteriorate, and the unmistakable contours of the tempest started to writhe and whirl in unison, I found myself wanting to broaden my audience- even though my voice would most likely prove little challenge to the marauding media vortex. Nonetheless, it is the principle that counts. In a more romantic sense, this blog is my stone hurling towards the forehead of the great Philistine warrior. And may Goliath fall.
Fortunately, Sean Hannity is not God (though he might argue with that). But my title is not simply a callous blasphemy attempting to incite the indignation of those I protest. Rather, I selected this mantra conscientiously for two reasons. Firstly, it's a seductively juvenile lampoon, and the sport of mocking from a distance is just something I relish. Secondly, and much more importantly, I see Sean Hannity as a fitting caricature of what is fundamentally wrong with 90% of modern media practice. If you pull back the curtain, the primary psychological appeal of most television programming shares some or all of the characteristics of Hannity's show on Fox News- of course, it is extremely rare to find all of these qualities present to the extent that they are on "Hannity". In that sense, Sean Hannity is the exemplar...the righteous epitome.... he is, in effect, the Supreme Being that permeates all space and time. He is pure Spectacle- but what do I mean by Spectacle???
Within media criticism circles (primarily academia), the notion of "spectacle" is much more than a facile description of something that appears "visually striking"- though that is certainly part of it. It is, rather, a theoretical philosophy that encompasses the comprehensive media experience and interprets the social implications. In his book (and film) called The Society of Spectacle, Guy Debord describes the theory in much detail- but I won't bore you with the relatively esoteric post-Marxist theory. I would, however, encourage you to watch the brief (9 min) documentary I made that attempts to distill the theory's core tenets into images and sound that all viewers can digest (see below). The point is, I will be using the concept of "Spectacle" as a framework from which to engage and critique media messages, particularly as they relate to politics and journalism.
Do I believe that there is some massive, Matrix-like cabal trying to subvert and enslave the human psyche?- of course not. Do I think that the majority of media today is Bread & Circus Brand opium for the masses?- surely. I think it's abundantly clear that while the profit logic of the system works for entertainment, too often we have seen this force invade and devour the journalistic function of media. Whether it's Keith Olbermann or Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly or Ed Schultz, infotainment is the cheap fashion of modern media. The prudent firewall that had once separated the two distinct provinces has been irrevocably breached- and we are witnessing the impact in errant foreign and domestic policies grounded in sensationalism and fear rather than rational thought and intelligent debate. It's not necessarily that quality information is not out there (it is), it's that the majority of the voting public doesn't want or care to consume it. They'd rather submit to the throbbing, simian performances on cable news where an incredibly complex world is impossibly refined into snarky soundbytes that reinforce nakedly insular worldviews. I hope to combat this trend and hope you will join me on this quest (subscribe to SHIG on the right).
This is not to say that this blog is by any means the antidote to the poison, rather it is my attempt to bear public witness and provide sound insights into the media miasma. I think many people (myself included) often approach communication with a certain casual innocence rather than the critical awareness that is necessary to manage and appropriate messages without being subliminally coerced. So in writing this blog, I will examine and critique the public sphere, offer my own thoughts on the issues, and also direct the reader to outside information that I believe to be of good value. At the very least, I hope you find my words thought-provoking.
As I mentioned, I will leave you with my short doc on the notion of "Spectacle" as espoused by Guy Debord in his seminal work "The Society of the Spectacle". It's an amateurish filmic exposition of his compelling but underappreciated theory.
Hannity is God.
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