Gutfeld Naked
Yesterday Laura and I discussed a Fox celebrity who as interviewed on NPR by Scott Simon. I listen to very little radio with the exception of several rock n’ roll music stations. I had not heard the interview. Nor was I familiar with Greg Gutfeld, one of the Fox entertainers. His show is late-night, and is billed, Gutfeld. He draws a greater audience than Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon or “The Daily Show.”
Laura pressed me to write about this and other current material. Her concern has to do with the somewhat abstract, academic slant of many of my posts. She stated that my goal of illuminating our lives by the process of philosophy could be more accessible by writing directly about events or matters of contention which are “in mind” of many ordinary people. She had a point.
She wanted to know what I thought about the NPR Scott Simon-Greg Gutfeld interview. She played the interview clip for me. I decided to write something here. You can hear the 9 minute interview. CLICK HERE.
What is my take on Gutfeld?
In this nine minute exchange Greg Gutfeld shows himself as a racist. Also clearly he will not relinquish a dominating position in an interview. The interview on its surface is civil, but crackles with the static of animosity at the edges.
Gutfield and a segment of our fellow American’s who “get” his humor, would deprive Scott Simon, and all those who have skepticism of Gutfeld’s statements (he says he is not a comedian, not focused on politics, and not a racist) of any voice. If Gutfeld and those he represents are able to gain enough leverage, National Public Radio as it now stands, will be banned, or neutered as a critical voice.
Gutfeld is a suave master of misdirection. He offers a joke about the physical stature of the president of Ukraine, Zelensky, and then insists the joke was not about Zelensky at all. The joke was a self deprecating reference to his own “short” stature.
He says he just wants to have fun. But, he is not a comedian…
If that confuses you, then you’ve managed to hold onto a sense of sane judgment.
Gutfeld states that he eschews identity politics. He thinks that “it is a terrible thing.” Gutfeld is admant that he is an individual. Simon pointed out that his verbal behavior panders to those who self-identify as being on the right, the Trump party. His audience responds to his joke targeting LGBTQ Americans with unison laughter. Did they laugh because they have no concern at all about those who belong to that community?
The audience laughs in sardonic response, because they care a great deal. The audience cares enough to disenfranchise the LGBTQ community when they have sufficient political advantage to enact legislation that allows discrimination of those individuals.
That is my take on the Gutfeld interview. He uses irony to camouflage a malicious intent. When called to account for his racist material he pivots to attack his interviewer, “You need to get outside your bubble, Scott… You NPR, kale-sniffing vegetarians.” Gutfeld near the end of the interview obliquely refers to Simon as, – People like me? Gutfeld then confesses that he intends to oppose “the media” meaning Scott Simon and everyone else with a voice who has not shown loyalty to the Trump agenda.
They’re 95% left wing. That is my target, and it will always be my target. I’m interested in the people that manipulate the narrative. …the people that try to brainwash us every day.
No need to “beat a dead horse,” to say more.
To paraphrase an old saying from the 19th century: This emperor has no clothes.
One thought on “Gutfeld Naked”
Focusing on the every day maligning of anyone who believes in anything other than the Trump agenda is not a bad idea (as long as it’s not overdone). We need a dose of reality now and then, though I have been reluctant to watch any news for the past several months. There’s little point in dumping more bad news onto my already bludgeoned psyche, but I admit to peeking at the CNN app on my phone every so often only to come away shaking my head in disbelief. One of my favorite broadcasters/writers is David Brooks. He is a self-proclaimed conservative, but in the old-fashioned manner. He thinks about things and never tows the current line of thinking. A pragmatist to the core. Below is what he said recently on his weekly PBS program:
“I was nauseated, just nauseated. All my life, I have had a certain idea of about America, that we’re a flawed country, but we’re fundamentally a force for good in the world, that we defeated Soviet Union, we defeated fascism, we did the Marshall Plan, we did PEPFAR to help people live in Africa. And we make mistakes, Iraq, Vietnam, but they’re usually mistakes out of stupidity, naivete and arrogance.
They’re not because we’re ill-intentioned. What I have seen over the last six weeks is the United States behaving vilely, vilely to our friends in Canada and Mexico, vilely to our friends in Europe. And today was the bottom of the barrel, vilely to a man who is defending Western values, at great personal risk to him and his countrymen.
Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And, in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a world that’s safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive. And we saw the product of that effort today in the Oval Office.
And I have — I first started thinking, is it — am I feeling grief? Am I feeling shock, like I’m in a hallucination? But I just think shame, moral shame. It’s a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way.”
I could not have expressed it any better. Scott Simon is also a Saturday morning favorite. Caring, empathetic, curious, and kind. We have made it a ritual to listen to him each week, always coming away with a new perspective. He has always done his best to offer a balanced point of view and his interview with Gutfeld is just a recent example. Hopefully this kind of thing will energize those on the left to become more involved in the process of bringing our nation back into the light, to see more clearly the dysfunctional and sociopathic nature of the Trump supporter. We’ll see!