The primetime talking heads, like it or not, carry such sway. Many, such as Piers, are consciously positioned to appeal to our basest needs for black and white dogma. I can’t say with certainty that Mr Morgan holds dear the bigoted, patriarchal, over-privileged bombast and conceits that he very publicly projects, or whether he is deliberately prodding down on the flashing-red public moral buttons. I imagine it’s a good bit of both. Either way, it obviously, sadly jives. Whether appealing to our lusts for courted controversy, public shame, conflict, or worse validating small-mindedness and intolerance, an awful lot of people seem to identify.
I suppose in a way I am caving to some of those same instincts; in taking pleasure seeing the fellow so publicly shaming himself, but nonetheless, I did. What a piece of work. Likes to wag those fingers, and tell us all how it is, but when challenged on those opinions, rather than reason it out, spits the dummy and storms out of his own show… in front of an audience of millions. That’s right Piers, there can only be one voice, one perspective. Yes Piers, your quite right, we don’t have to listen to the other side, simply pump out our bile, and everyone else gets to suck it up through a straw. We don’t need to actually listen to people in order to judge and lay down absolutes.
I personally hope you stay. I look forward to the programmers wheeling you out as the pantomime villain, because we need a marker. We need to be allowed to engage with the depths and convictions of our most prominent representatives of illogic and inhumanity — and see how easy it is to puncture that lurid bubble of ugly prejudice.