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A Thing Was Said: The Indefatigable Self-assurance of Metamodern Jackassery
Amazing how much of our news media environment, when you really get down to it, revolves around “a thing was said” reactionary jackassery
A thing was said.
That’s it. That’s the tweet. The Facebook post. The lower third graphic on the newscast. The keyword for SEO on written pieces online. The buzzword that will now be inserted into future conversations so that the right kind of people know you are talking the right kind of way about the right kind of thing. Trends will flow forth, opinions will be opined, comments will be commentated.
It is amazing how much of our modern news media environment, when you really get down to it under the blaring, caterwauling, and remonstrations, revolves around “a thing was said.”
The actual thing being said is of second, maybe third, perhaps even a lower rank of importance. Much like the MacGuffin in an action movie, “A thing was said” was just the thing to advance the plot. To get to the clever one-liner. To advance the love story everyone sees coming. To set up the plot twist the same group of everyone also saw coming. We are going to get to the ending, dang nab it, and if we have to straighten out some logic curves…
