This morning, running on my treadmill, my channel surfing landed me on the Squawkbox. Becky Quick prefaced a comment with, "I was reading Paul Krugman..."
and Joe Kernen, her co host, expostulated, "OH,WHY would you ever do that? It's like reading Karl Marx."
Ms. Quick persisted, trying to get to the point she was making, but Mr. Kernen would not allow this. He started flapping his hands near his ears, and bleating, "Blah, blah, blah...I don't want to hear it."
Like some child in a cafeteria at school.
And this man is paid big bucks to be on national T.V.
Of course, I do not have to watch, and will not again, but does this not say it all...about what is wrong with our inability to be "bipartisan."
We lived in walled communities, with people who think like us, because we refuse to even listen to another point of view. This man Kernen, has a brain walled off, of his own volition. He has no hope, by choice, of ever getting any smarter.
And there is nothing wrong with this?
In fact, we are paid big bucks to behave in this infantile way.
This man, Mr. Kernen was a stockbroker before he got on T.V. He got a masters in microbiology at MIT, which apparently did not much inform him about the process by which the human mind might arrive at new insights and new knowledge, which in almost every line of human inquiry requires entertaining alternative hypotheses and considering "truths" we may not want to believe.
Apparently, Mr. Kernen has a history with Mr. Krugman, but really. Flapping your hands near your ears, in front of how many million viewers?
Such is the anti intellectualism of every day American life as manifest on CNBC.
Really, do we not even care who we place before the American public?
If I tuned into a British TV program, would I find people as low brow as Mr. Kernen?
Presumably, Britain has as wide a range of intellect as we have in America, but the face of the nation is what we see on TV, and what do we see as the American face?
And we wonder why we have lost leadership in the world.
It is ironic that the United States should have been founded by intellectuals, for throughout most of our political history, the intellectual has been for the most part either an outsider, a servant or a scapegoat.
--Richard Hofstader
author, Anti intellectualism in American Life
It will come as no surprise that Mr Kernen is a big fan of FOX. I learned this in an email interaction with him. I think he is striving to bring their approach to Squawk Box - in hopes of improving their viewership numbers. If you want to know what the unknowing know, just listen to him - it will blow your mind - but you will hear it in a lot of other places in the following days.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt's not Mr. Kernen who surprises me. There have always been blow hards, small brained types out there. What perplexes me is: Who is this guy's boss? Somebody signs his check. What is that person thinking?
The Phantom
Remember this is basically an entertainment show - not an informational one. Anything that brings in more viewers is seen as a plus. On-line reviews tend to support your impression of Kernin - but everyone knows who he is and they love to hate him - but as long as they watch, it is all good.
ReplyDeleteSquawk Box, in the past, was actually well structured. Kernen on the far right, Carl Quintanilla, a left of center moderate and Becky in the middle. Kernen was more under control since he thought Quintanilla was more appealing as a male than he was. Now, with Andrew Ross-Sorkin in the left role, Kernen is out of control. No matter that ARS is much smarter and better informed. From a Frat-boy perspective, he is no threat to JK. Quite different than when CQ was on the opposite side. You get a little of the old flavor when Steve Liesman is on to represent the thinking liberals.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those experiences which leaves me flabbergasted. Of course, there are Joe Kernens out there. There are Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks out there. But who is putting them on TV?
The Phantom
Sadly, they draw an audience - the scary part is who are those people? I guess there is 25% of the American public with whom we will never agree. If you can get them into your audience, you have a winning show and can make millions (it is amazing that those fans are near the poverty level but they help these fools become millionaires)
ReplyDelete