Theatre of the Absurd

Several decades ago, one of the weekly news magazines published an issue called, ”THE DUMBING OF AMERICA.” I vaguely remember pursuing it with interest, but the topic remained with me for a long time after the magazine was discarded.

I recalled it this Sunday morning while I watched the morning news programs and the political coverage of the week. The focus initially was on the lack of response by one candidate to a question relating to the current President’s religion.

From there it unexpectedly bounced to an interview with one of the other candidates and queried him on the suitability of electing a Muslin leader.

Gotcha questions seem to be in vogue during this season. However, this was more than that. It was ridiculous. Unfortunately, the candidate being questioned answered rather than laughing at the absurdity of the query. We are currently a country in crisis, economically, militarily and struggling to make a valid decision on a future leader.

To the best of my knowledge, there are 16 candidates hoping to be nominated for the Presidential campaign. The majority are Republican hopefuls, two are vying for the Democratic vote, and one in the wings who may or may not choose to compete. None of them are Muslin.

It has been the season of inane interrogations. Supposedly, by a sophisticated, intellectual team of journalists. Earlier questions ranged from putting the face of a woman on a form of currency to what the contenders would like as a nickname if guarded by the Secret Service, and now do you approve of a Muslin Commander In Chief. Stepping back in history, can you visualize Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan or any serious aspirant in a past Presidential race being interrogated with such trivia?

Realistically, are these legitimate subjects to be introduced into an intelligent discussion? If you are competing for a job, does it matter what you believe theoretically may or may not occur in ten or twenty years down the road?

Not at all, and I have to wonder why the Theatre of the Absurd is filling the airwaves, the internet and gathering attention from the American public. But perhaps the real question is why it is happening. Why are we being saturated with nonsense, hypotheticals, and shallow interviews? Why are journalists on the evening newscasts responding to this calculated form of diminishing reputations?

Have we all fallen into the same trap? We flick the remote on, and absorb sheer nonsense clouded in the veneer of professional journalism. Because it is no longer valid reporting when such a nebulous possibility can be used to smear a person’s ability to enter the political arena. Instead it falls into the once predicted “DUMBING OF AMERICA.” But the seats in the Theatre of the Absurd appear to be filling up quickly. Hopefully, the performers in the arena will not be allowed to cloud our judgment.