After a surprising electoral loss, or any other sort of disappointing failure, it’s customary for the losing team to engage in some self-reflection. Obviously, mistakes were made. Incorrect assumptions weren’t challenged, or challenged hard enough. You misjudged your opponents. You plotted the wrong course, and now it’s time to correct it. Reorient yourself. Adjust. Learn from what you did wrong, and figure out how to get it right next time.
Ha ha, only kidding! After you lose, you just double down and scream like a big fat baby. Show ’em how it’s done, Patton Oswalt:
But when I tell ’em to put a sock in it…
It’s so weird. When liberals win, they’re arrogant. When they lose, somehow they’re even more arrogant.
Just a few days ago, Stephen Colbert was lamenting how divided America is. This little comedy(?) sketch is a perfect 60-second example of why that is. You don’t unite people by assuming they think the same way you do and are angry about the same things you are.
I guess Colbert’s ratings are doing alright, so he can afford to even further alienate anybody who disagrees with him politically. If you’re the type of person who sees Patton Oswalt and lurches for the remote, you’re probably not watching anyway.
Heck, them dumb hillbillies prob’ly cain’t even figger out how ta turn on thur tee-vees any-dang-how. Hyuk!
We’re going to be unpacking the reasons behind the 2016 election for a long time. But here’s one reason: People are sick of being talked to like this. They’re tired of being scolded and dismissed and looked down upon. They’re tired of being marginalized. They’re tired of the assumption that if they don’t agree with people like Patton Oswalt and Stephen Colbert, they’re evil.
They want to be able to watch a dumb late-night talk show without getting a leftist sermon.
Keep in mind, this is coming from somebody who didn’t vote for Trump. I don’t like him, I don’t trust him, and I agree with a lot of the criticisms of him. But I’m also thinking a lot about why those criticisms didn’t matter on election day.
Colbert has no reason to listen to some teabagging blogger, of course. As long as he’s making money for CBS, he’ll keep doing what he wants. But I’m skeptical that he’s really concerned about how divided America is, as he claimed to be on election night. He’s fine with it, as long as he’s in the half with all the power. Now that he’s not, he doesn’t know how to deal with it.
See you in 2020, Stephen. That is, assuming Trump doesn’t start WWIII over a mean tweet or something… Oh wait, that’s Kimmel’s bit, isn’t it? Sorry, you guys just sort of blur together.
P.S. I just realized that the above headline is the exact opposite of clickbait. Oh well.
