It is increasingly clear that we live a world turned upside-down. This is particularly obvious in the realm of the modern media where all the old rules have been dramatically upended while many in the business still haven’t fully come to that rather obvious realization.
In this environment, it should come as no surprise when actual outcomes have no real relationship to the way events transpire (like, for instance, our entire 2016 presidential election). This exactly what happened with regard to the televised showdown between NBC’s Megyn Kelly and nutty conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Before the segment aired, I was one of those who expressed concern that, based on a reading of the tea leaves (including a bizarre, all-too-friendly photo of them riding in a car together), the interview may not be as hard on Jones as he deserved. This anxiety was heightened when unaired video leaked of Kelly going super soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As it turned out, Kelly ended up doing a pretty good, though hardly perfect, job of exposing Jones as a terrible and dangerous person.
It seems clear that the segment got greatly strengthened after the controversy erupted (a scenario about which I specifically theorized), which probably saved Kelly from career-threatening embarrassment. My only significant criticism of the content of the piece which aired is that Kelly, seemingly because it might confuse her preferred narrative, completely neglected the recent revelation that Jones was forced to admit, in court, that he is really just a “performance artist.”
In short, Jones got totally exposed and utterly eviscerated. Even more importantly, President Trump was made to look completely ridiculous for overtly supporting Jones. In a rational world, both men would suffer severe consequences as the public learned the real truth about them.
But because we no longer live in that world, none of that will happen. In fact, the results of this episode, if any, will be the exact opposite of what they would have been even just ten years ago.
Jones lost this battle badly, but he won the war. His stature has been greatly elevated and, thanks to the controversy, his ability to claim to his cult-like following that he is so dangerous that the “mainstream” must conspire to destroy…
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