Strange times
For those who didn’t read any of what I previously posted here or anywhere else, I was rooting for Kamala Harris. And I’m not the only one: dozens of millions of Americans did just that, not to mention countless observers around the world — myself included. Watching a late night talk show now, you can’t help but feel a degree of sadness infused in most of what the Colberts, Kimmels and Meyers are saying. Not sure about Fallon: he might still sound upbeat before a military strike on US soil.
And it’s not just TV comedians: audiences of news channels have significantly decreased since the election, namely those of CNN and MSNBC — all more or less clearly leaning towards Democrats in general and Kamala Harris in particular. The immediate conclusion one can draw from this is that Trump won: his camp, and his media friends, are effectively taking over information consumption as we know it. Joe Rogan is basically more important than Jake Tapper, as we already kind of suspected.
It this game over? Not quite.
Well, it might be for traditional media: the global trend towards more “boutique” shows, with more targeted audiences and particular topics, has been unfolding for years, with the help of streamers and online platforms such as Youtube. And I consider it to be a largely positive phenomenon: pundits talking about the good ol’ days when everybody watched the same show on TV the night before fail to take into account that not everybody wanted to watch that show: it was just the only one they had. Choice, in other words, is a tremendous upside in the current media/content battle, and we the viewers directly benefit from it.
What about progressive ideas?
It is however far from over for progressive opinions, despite what some may be hinting at. Joe Rogan may be the biggest podcaster out there, but he’s not the only one. Quite a few comedians’ podcasts are toying with the political line, with their anti-woke / freedom of speech positioning, but there are many more that are resolutely on the side of progress and its younger cousin, progressiveness. Pod Save America, David Pakman, Bryan Tyler Cohen — to name but a few — are all part of this new wave of online journalism and political thinking driving moderate ideas. And these are just the more established ones: I am convinced new and younger voices are emerging right now, that we will hear more from in the years to come. The revolution will be streamed.
In the meantime…
What we are currently living through is this difficult generational transition between a traditional view of society, that Trump artfully instrumentalized, and this society 2.0 that “woke”, progressive and more inclusive voices are pushing for. Trump voters are by and large buying into the old DIY, “by the bootstraps” approach that in many ways defined the American ethos. But, in an interconnected 21st century, what a country does on its own is increasingly becoming irrelevant: pollution doesn’t know borders. More to the point, we now know that a more collaborative approach to societal issues is overwhelmingly beneficial: if we help the more secluded communities, if we push for better education across the board, if we setup programs to re-enfrenchize those who fell by the wayside, we stand to win collectively. If we make sure women’s right are protected, we men stand to benefit from higher spousal incomes, happier households — and caring for wholly wanted children…
This is not left wing naivety: this is essentially a vision of the future. One thing history teaches us is that things tend to progress — in the long run. There might be low phases that we have to go through as the process is not linear: I believe we are currently witnessing one. But the long term trend remains the same — up. So here’s to not forgetting that, working on it and building that better future for everyone.