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1. Embed this notice
   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 02:39:45 JST Paul Cantrell

   • William Lindsey :toad:

   This!!

   ❝Trump’s experience as the decade-long host of The Apprentice…has always been crucial to understanding both his appeal and his approach to politics. He sees the presidency as a television show, and his decisions are often driven by the desire to make good television above all else.❞

   The political press in its current form is best understood as reality TV. Yes, even the NYT and the WaPo. Not news. Not reality. Reality TV.

   Is it any surprise that a reality TV star knows how to exploit it?

   #uspol via @wdlindsy: https://toad.social/@wdlindsy/114133024649602505

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 02:49:29 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Characteristics of reality TV:

     - Contrived circumstances create narrative drama
     - Behavior of visible stars shaped by invisible producers and writers
     - Selective editing spins simple narratives out of complex behavior
     - Editing emphasizes / invents conflict
     - Show rewards the attention-grabbers; ignores the diligent & reasonable
     - Focus on personalities over outcomes
     - Showrunners make sure the worst people stay in the game to keep it interesting / addictive; outrage drives viewership
     - Showrunners inject conflict if things are going too well
     - Abusive backstage environment, wrapped in coerced silence
     - The story you hear is the one the showrunners decided to tell, not what actually happened
     - Total unconcern on the part of showrunners with well-being of either the participants or the viewers
     - On-show outcomes are contrived; actual outcomes not shown

     Characteristics of modern political news coverage:

     - See above

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 02:53:06 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Flic

     @Flisty
     Indeed! I had the same thought upthread.

   • Embed this notice
     Flic (flisty@mstdn.social)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 02:53:07 JST Flic

     in reply to

     @inthehands and somehow we ended up with a reality TV star as leader of the richest nation in the world. One wonders how

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 02:54:55 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Think “reality TV” and I swear you will never look at a press conference or a presidential debate the same way again.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 02:55:44 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     “Why are the moderators so bad?!??”

     Because they are ••running a reality TV show••

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 03:01:38 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     A friend of mine was on the reality TV show “Colonial House” some 20 years ago, more or less on a lark. He showed up every day and worked hard, did all the historically reenacted household tasks he was supposed to do — and did a good job. Most of the people on the show did.

     As a result, you hardly even see him on the show, mostly in the background of a few shots. People doing a good job were boring. The show mostly focused on this one family having an interpersonal meltdown. Made for good TV!

     And this was a ••PBS•• reality show. PBS!

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 03:02:49 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Bob Blaskiewicz 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇬🇱

     That’s the thing: the •show• is as fake as it gets, but the •impact• is (just as @rjblaskiewicz says) all too real.

     https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/114133758303707535

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 03:17:54 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Juan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉

     @dacig
     Yup, either on the set or (if it truly was spontaneous) in the editing room

   • Embed this notice
     Juan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉 (dacig@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 03:17:55 JST Juan Per¢ent,🇲🇽 🍉

     in reply to

     @inthehands Everything that happens in a reality show is staged.

   • Embed this notice
     Nick Silkey 🪓🪵 🪣💧 (nicksilkey@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 04:04:03 JST Nick Silkey 🪓🪵 🪣💧

     in reply to

     @inthehands what a metaphor for the human experience. The friend chopped wood and carried water. Living their best life while this manufactured pseudocrisis spiraled. ✌️💙

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 04:08:22 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Erik Ableson

     @erik
     I can really enjoy Queer Eye, which is one giant lesson in humanity and caring and acceptance and decency, and even that show — the most wholesome reality TV imaginable — even in that one, the editing and the manipulation of the showrunners’ invisible hand still chafes at me.

   • Embed this notice
     Erik Ableson (erik@mastodon.infrageeks.social)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 04:08:23 JST Erik Ableson

     in reply to

     @inthehands All reasons why I don’t/can’t watch reality TV or any political coverage on TV.

     Neil Postman was right.