Tell ‘Em What They Want to Hear

These people know they’re playing to a huge audience of hateful morons, and, I have to admit, they’re damn good at it.

I’m reminded of the scene in the 1974 film “Blazing Saddles” where African-American actor Cleavon Little is assigned to become the new sheriff in a rural, and thoroughly racist western town.  As he begins a speech, addressing the all-white townspeople for the first time, he hears the clicking of numerous guns being cocked, and he realizes that he’s about to be shot.

In response, he pulls out his own gun, pushes it hard, up under his jaw, grabs his shirt with his free hand, and says in a deep, menacing voice, “Don’t anybody move or the n***** gets it.” The people are flummoxed, enabling him to escape back into his office, where he says to himself, “You are so talented.  And these people are sooooo dumb.”

In the real world here, we face a tough problem: this will only get worse as time passes.  There will always be news items that politicians can use to whip angry fools into a frenzy.  As the levels of ignorance grows, so do the skill of the demagogues.