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Scolding and gaslighting [1]
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Date: 2023-05-12
This treatment is veering off-topic—I might post something more standalone later. But you said you didn’t see the gaslighting, whereas I (and apparently a lot of other people, judging from that diary) did, so I wanted to put some of that into context.
Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment. Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie, after lie, after lie. And I get it. It was disturbing. It was disturbing to see and hear that person refer to a Black law enforcement officer a thug, an adjective he used many times to describe Black men, and called Kaitlan Collins, the moderator, ‘nasty,’ which is what he calls any woman who stands up to him. It was disturbing to hear him speak so highly of QAnon conspirators and insurrectionists who assaulted police officers and our democracy on January 6. And it was awful to hear him spread ridiculous lies about the election. And it was certainly disturbing to hear that audience, young and old, our fellow citizens, people who love their kids and go to church laugh and applaud his lies and his continued defamation of woman who according to a jury of his peers he sexually abused and defamed.
This part sounds like an acknowledgment of the audience, and maybe it is. Though upon reading and not just listening to this, it’s curious that Cooper would describe that hand-picked studio audience as kid-loving and churchgoing. The problem with the studio audience had nothing to do with what they do off-camera; so it’s sleight of hand to bring in such supposed details. He’s “mom & apple pie”ing them. That’s not necessary.
But also, in a way, he’s already off-loading CNN’s responsibility for assembling and instructing that crowd in terms of behavior (no boos, applause is okay) onto the crowd itself. Instead of calling CNN out for having such a lopsided, unrepresentative studio audience (he mentions demographics just in passing), he focuses on how relatable these people must be. This is a form of minimization—neutralization—of responsibility.
Now, many of you think CNN shouldn't have given him any platform to speak and I understand the anger about that - giving him the audience, the time, I get that.
Here Cooper is taking a legitimate grievance—the main complaint people have lodged—and turned it into a rhetorical device. That’s a form of dismissal. What follows shows that he actually does not take the complaint seriously. It’s a foil for the rest of his statement.
But this is what I also get: The man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last night - that man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president. And according to polling, no other Republican is even close.
That means nothing at this point. In fact, by hosting Trump, they helped solidify his position in the field. That was a choice and one that was completely unnecessary, given this state of the field.
Indeed, Trump declared earlier than anyone in history, arguably to escape prosecution. While that does not seem to have helped him in that regard, it has apparently an unearned advantage in the cable wars. For months, he was the only declared Republican candidate. That fact alone would not have justified giving him an unfettered platform.
That man you were so upset to hear from last night, he may be President of the United States in less than two years. And that audience that upset you? That's a sampling of about half the country. They are your family members, your neighbors and they are voting. And many said they're voting for him.
“A sampling”? This is where I personally get offended, because I’ve had training in social science methodology. That’s a sample. There are stool samples, too. What that audience was not was representative. It was skewed from the start, from center-right to ultra-right. They were instructed on how to behave. Cooper has turned such cherry-picking into a defense, and then is scolding the audience for having the temerity to question the studio audience’s composition. That’s the gaslighting. It’s at least the start of it.
Now, maybe you haven't been paying attention to him since he left office. Maybe you've been enjoying not hearing from him, thinking it can't happen again, some investigation is going to stop him - well, it hasn't so far.
Who hasn't been paying attention to him? Accusation #1.
I do remember the sweet relief I felt right after the 2020 election with the idea that we would not need to hear from Trump again. That lasted all of two months. It’s disingenuous to state that the audience at home is blissfully unaware of the danger that Trump poses to the country, or that we’ve been hiding with fingers in our ears all this time.
But the portion where he says, “Maybe you've been enjoying not hearing from him, thinking it can't happen again, some investigation is going to stop him - well, it hasn't so far”— that’s the part where he’s manufacturing consent of the home audience. He’s suggesting quite heavily that investigations won't stop Trump (just by the way that the question is phrased), and that the audience should start believing that they won't. It’s an implication, but it's clear.
So if last night showed anything, it showed it can happen again. It is happening again. He hasn't changed and he is running hard.
It’s happening again—because CNN is helping it happen. It did just that by providing him their platform, which legitimized him.
I couldn't care less about how hard Trump is running; and saying that “he’s running hard” gives him a patina of endurance that is absurd. It’s a ridiculous phrase that does not belong here.
You have every right to be outraged and angry and never watch this network again. But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?
Who’s posing this question? Who honestly has asked this question? Why is he accusing non-Trumpists of being siloed away? We know from studies and polling that it’s the other way around—that ultra-conservatives are the ones who are listening to very few news sources.
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To accuse the home audience of this behavior is beyond ridiculous. It’s gaslighting. It’s almost impossible to defend against, because the person who’d be defending has not committed such an act. The accusation is inherently dishonest.
If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite. If lies are allowed to go unchecked, as imperfect as our ability to check them is on a stage in real time, those lies continue and those lies spread.
Then CNN should have chosen a different format, instead of rechristening what they did show as as a “town hall.” It was nothing of the sort. It was “make Donald Trump feel better with a cheering crowd the day after he lost $5 million in court.” It was a disgrace. And CNN is rightly getting called out for what they presented as newsworthy. It could not have been further from that standard.
After last night, none of us can say, “I didn't know what's out there. I didn't know what's coming.”
Cooper can no longer say that he respects his audience. This gaslighting and scolding was a bridge too far. I, personally, will not trust him again to be impartial. His credibility is sunk, not least for the fact that he just showed how little he respects his own viewers.
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