Reality TV's time is likely over
At Netroots Nation, I picked up a copy of Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles Pierce, and thoroughly enjoyed its often-hilarious, generally impatient, occasionally lyrical examination of the stranglehold Idiot America has on our once-great nation. Pierce's great contribution to the growing pile of books bemoaning the same loss is to distinguish between the American crank, a species he has great respect for, and Idiot America. The difference is a simple one: cranks know their place. They don't vie for power or mainstream acceptance. They offer their crank ideas to the world and let them subvert the common wisdom, but don't employ volume, power, and money to elevate crankery to a level of prestige it doesn't deserve. The good cranks in Pierce's eyes are JFK assassination conspiracy theorists (except probably Oliver Stone), the Mormons in Joseph Smith's era, and the guy who came up with the theory that Atlantis is the source of all civilization. Idiot America, however, is George Bush suggesting that we should "teach the controversy" over evolution. Idiot America are the people who tried to lay claim to Terri Schiavo's body that encased her slowly liquefying brain. Idiot America is Justice Scalia referencing "24" as if it had any bearing on how torture works in the real world.