Sensationalist Pandering to Base Emotions

Do you see this fight that took place before the UTEP-Texas Tech game? I lifted it from the KVIA website.

I’d like to say that this is not the way most fights happen in El Paso, Mostly, we square up like gentlemen familiar with the rules of the Marquis de Queensberry. At least that’s what I’d like to say. Unfortunately, most fights in El Paso look like a gang jumping one guy, with strong guys picking on weaker ones, or a bunch of strong guys terrorizing the powerless. Have you ever been to a popular bar on the east side?

It’s kind of the same philosophy that dominates local politics. We have cliques that band together to demonize the opposition. They enlist the support of the political bloggers and editorialists, who call their opponents “crazies,” or some other simulacrum of a verbal smackdown. And then you get the shrill screechings of an hysterical fringe, sucking all the air out of the room, and eliminating the possibility of a reasonable discussion. And the machine focuses on the histrionics, because they can shout them down, and fill the dialogue space with noisy rhetoric, and never have to deal with the real issues.

No wonder no one wants to get into politics in El Paso. No wonder no one votes. No wonder all we’re left with is state-sponsored crony capitalism, with the financial heavyweights jacking the little guys for a little juice in the name of “progress.”