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I don't watch the news, but I recently found myself in a situation where I had to watch MS NOW (apparently what MSNBC became). My God, it was rough and bleak. It seems like it's trying to be the leftist answer to Fox News. Maybe it is. I'd always assumed leftist news carried a veil of credibility that conservative news didn't. Maybe it used to. But this particular network, at this particular moment, felt so pundit-driven that it was actively turning me against whatever they would say.
They'd mention something associated with Trump, like his family making money while he's president, then play a clip of him talking about it. And yeah, he sounds like Trump, a tactless braggart. But he also sounded reasonable, especially since I could tell the clip had been edited in the least charitable way possible. They'd have Chris Hayes, who's clearly trying to be the leftist version of Bill O'Reilly or Tucker Carlson, addressing the camera directly, smirking, telling the audience what to think about it.
Or in a roundtable discussion they'd mention the rising number of Democratic Socialist candidates in the party and, in a strikingly angry tone, insist it's naive and lazy to think this means the party is being "taken over."
It was just insinuation after insinuation, delivered with this anger and dismissiveness. It wasn't news reporting. It was punditry. They were never just reporting anything; they were stating opinions while implying no reasonable person could disagree. The goal, it seemed, was to deepen partisanship: build an echo chamber for the already-onboard, and shame anyone who isn't into submission.
Like I said, I've never been the biggest news person, so I don't know if this is a new thing for the left, or an old thing, or just this network, or every network.
Fun thought experiment: 24 hour news or 24 hour Italian brainrot? Which would be better for mental health? Which would lead to better life choices?
I propose calling this kind of news “American brainrot”. Including other countries’ channels, because they (at least BBC and Sky) still spend the majority of their time covering America.
Just out of curiosity, why 'Italian' brainrot?
Someone once told me I had to try Italian soda, so I did, and it was just soda. Then someone said I had to try '''gelato''' so I did and it was just mid ice cream. Neither point is probably relevant. Sometimes I think I just come here to get my rambling out before hitting real old age.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_brainrot
It's a specific thing, not just brainrot that's Italian. It's these weird characters with Italian-sounding names and with Italian-language narration, which most of the audience doesn't understand but find funny. It's mostly to entertain kids. Same audience that Elsagate reached. Adults jumped on it ironically and it's just stupid all the way through. It's stupid to like it sincerely, stupid to like it ironically, stupid to get upset about it, stupid to even mention it. It just rots your brain upon contact in any way.
Regarding soda, I guess it's to distinguish it from "regular" soda, like Coke, Fanta, Sprite, which Americans call soda.
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