Keith Olbermann Hijacks Story of a Heroic Teen to Attack Trump
Keith Olbermann Hijacks Story of a Heroic Teen to Attack Trump
Incidentally, remember his "World's Worst" segments?
Back when Keith Olbermann had a job, his MSNBC show, Countdown, featured a segment where he named the “World’s Worst” people, based on a political or social issue.
Frequently attacking Fox News and Republicans, Olbermann’s show and various segments were derided by the television critic at the Los Angeles Times as “more or less an echo chamber in which Olbermann and like-minded bobbleheads nod at each other.” He was frequently criticized as only inviting on guests that agreed with him, and was actually suspended after having Democratic candidates on the air and then donating to them shortly afterward.
Olbermann’s segments attacked perceived political or social sins that he disagreed with, almost always with far more hatred than the sins themselves allegedly committed. He reveled in the personal attacks and his audience ate it up. But, like several other jobs, Olbermann couldn’t hold on to the show.
He is currently reduced to a mere Twitter personality, and there is perhaps no one outside of the Lincoln Project who misses Trump’s presence more than Olbermann.
In Michigan, a school shooting left students dead. One of those deaths was a high school football player who sacrificed himself to save his classmates. The kid was a hero, and virtually everyone on the planet recognized this. Barstool Sports was one of the outlets that wrote about it.
With all of his accomplishments on and off the field, Tate Myre will be remembered for his bravery in the face of pure evil.
It is reported that Tate rushed an active shooter and received many gunshot wounds trying to disarm him, allowing time for others to seek safety.
As more comes out about this case, let us just take time to spread the name and heroism of Tate Myre, a hero who saved a countless amount of lives through self-sacrifice.
Tate aspired to play at Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, Wayne State University, or Texas A&M University from what I can gather. His quote from his post-game interview, "Rain is like Oxford football, tough," resonates with the type of guy he was. Gritty to the highest degree. When Tate rushed the gunman he made the ultimate selfless sacrifice, something we should always remember to give perspective to our everyday lives.
A petition has been set up to rename the high school field after him.
When I say “virtually everyone on the planet” recognized this kid was a hero, I am of course excluding Olbermann from that.
Dave Portnoy, who runs Barstool, initially responded, but decided that it wasn’t worth it.
And Portnoy is right. Olbermann is trying to highjack the spotlight. But his sickness is a combination of two of the worst sicknesses in politics today.
The first is the addiction to Trump. So many out there are so obsessed with the prospect of Trump that they cannot talk about anything else. Everything has to be about him. Olbermann, who again is unemployed, enjoyed a brief resurgence of Internet popularity while Trump was in power. But Trump is no longer constantly in front of a camera, in the White House, or really at the forefront of most peoples’ thoughts.
We refer to it somewhat dismissively as “Trump Derangement Syndrome” but it has some deep impacts on public discourse. Some people are so broken by the man’s existence that they now see his shadow around every corner. And, yet, they desperately need Trump to come back to the forefront of American politics because it was the biggest moment of relevance for a lot of them. Whether it was clicks, ratings, or social media interactions, they needed to feel his presence again because it made them feel relevant.
Tate Myre died saving his classmates' lives, but guys like Olbermann and the writers at The Daily Beast want the focus to be on Trump and his role in “influencing” the shooting. It has to be about Trump. And for Olbermann to go beyond that and highjack the story of a hero to try to make a disgusting political attack against Trump, Portnoy, and Barstool is nothing short of deranged.
But, we’re talking about a guy who was fired more than once for not understanding how to deal with human beings.
The second sickness is the addiction to social media. So much of what politics has become is centered around what the loudest (and often the craziest) voices on social media are saying.
I use Facebook to share memes. Instagram to share pictures of my kids and what I’m cooking. I use Twitter pretty much because I have to in order to promote my columns and build an audience. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be on it. It’s toxic. But more than Facebook and the others, Twitter brings out the worst in people. It’s so easy to fall into a bubble or become part of some social or political hivemind.
Then, you get guys like Olbermann, who are obsessed with dunks and insults because his Twitter following craves it. They are exactly like Countdown’s audience was: a bunch of like-minded trolls who eat that sort of stuff up.
But they don’t represent the general public and never really have. The American public really doesn’t like disgusting personal attacks like this. They want more civility in public discourse. But when media figures and social media influencers are so addicted to the interactions and the likes, retweets, and replies piling up. They want the exposure more than anything.
In short, congratulations to Keith Olbermann for being the worst person. In the world.