Electroschlock Treatment

[CatWoman]

Electroschlock Treatment

Posted by James Wolcott

Two prominent neurologists who have asked to remain anonymous have examined CNN behind closed doors and determined that the network is irreversibly brain-dead, as flooded with cerebral fluid as the hull of the S.S. Poseidon. It still retains some primitive reflexes and signs of animation, but a brain-scan revealed the sort of minimal activity usually associated with punch-drunk prizefighters condemned to a flophouse cot, or a broken toaster. "CNN barely has two brain cells left to rub together," one doctor said, lacing up his tennis shoes for a quick getaway.

Well, I can't say I was surprised by this grim diagnosis. The sadistic glee expressed by CNN boss Jon Klein over anchor-lunk Rick Sanchez's Fear Factor "shock-belt" exhibition is evidence of a news operation in advanced mental decay, and the network's performance in the Terry Schiavo masque of the red state death only brings additional confirmation.

http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/03/electroschlock.php

[Fenris]

1. Jimmy is always on target!

:hi:

[Cooley Hurd]

2. The key to watching the Sanchez shock belt video is playing it...

...in slow motion.:D

(props to TDS...)

[blondeatlast]

8. The slo-mo was perfect. If 7 or so comedy writers and TV editors

can get the truth, why can't the corp whore media?

Wait--I already know (sigh).

[Cooley Hurd]

3. A bit OT - did you know this about Rick Sanchez?

From http://www.miami.com/mld/streetmiami/6384677.htm

Name: Rick Sanchez

Resides in: Currently relocating back to South Florida

Why he's famous: As the excitable anchor of WSVN Channel 7 News, Sanchez brought South Florida viewers the daily news with breathless urgency and once scored an Emmy for a five-part special on Cuban immigration. In 2001, Sanchez garnered national exposure when he joined cable news network MSNBC. Now coming back to South Florida, Sanchez will host a weekday talk show, on WTVJ/NBC 6, that he likens to Oprah.

Why he's infamous: As a TV journalist, Sanchez is best known for seizing on the sensational, infusing his ''reporting'' with his own opinion, and generally pontificating from his anchor's perch. Off-camera, his personal life has been riddled with controversy: When his friend, Alberto San Pedro, was arrested for bribery, drug trafficking and murder conspiracy in 1986, the association forced Sanchez to take a ''break'' from the South Florida media market. Four years later, Sanchez plowed his Volvo into Jeffrey Smuzinick outside Pro Player Stadium. Smuzinick was permanently paralyzed and died in a Pennsylvania nursing home in 1995, at the age of 36. Sanchez, whose blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was .15, was far luckier: He pleaded no contest to a DUI charge and received probation. Can Sanchez stay out of trouble on his third go-round in So. Fla? Stay tuned.
</snip>

He's a bigger dumbass than I thought...:wow:

[Fenris]

4. I wish I still had the piece on Sanchez claiming he is mildly retarded

Also included was the fact that Rick is slightly to the right of Mussolini.

[sandnsea]

5. Tasteless sensationalism

This piece is as tasteless as trailer hitch jesus. If Wolcott is really outraged by the media and "the backgrounds of the nutjob organizers of these sickly pseudo-events", then why doesn't HE inform the public instead of engaging in the same kind of sickly sensationalism as the MSM. I'm beginning to see sadistic glee from all sides in this fiasco.

[PhuLoi]

6. Speaking as one who loves satire, in all its forms including that

horrible little man Juvenal, I find Mr Walcott to be refreshing and inspirational. "Sick" satire is often the most effective because it is often shocking. Petit traumas to the psyche can bring the intellectually stuporous back from the land of Rove. No inferrence is being made here!

[sandnsea]

9. sick satire doesn't bother me

Timing is everything. The braindead references at this particular time are absolutely tasteless. Not to mention he hasn't written anything to truly enlighten the public on what is going on with these theocrats. So it's worthless as well. It appeals to the same kind of emotionalism that those he attacks appeal to. It isn't refreshing or inspirational, it's just the same old tired hate-filled ridicule that has filled the airwaves for twenty years.

[blondeatlast]

7. God, I love Wolcott!

Thanks for posting this.