Theater of the absurd

   Loftis

Growing up and living most of my adult life in central Arkansas, our local TV stations were truly local. Ten years into life in my adopted home, I’m still getting used to watching “local news” on a Missouri station. Lately, though, I’ve been confronted with a more frustrating issue. Unlike Arkansas, which holds its primary election in March, Missouri’s primary is next Tuesday, Aug. 6.

And let me just tell you, some of the political commercials I see on Missouri television stations are mind-numbingly stupid.

One guy is waving around a flame-thrower, vowing to “light ’em up.” Whom exactly he is referring to is not made clear, but the ad seems to suggest that the candidate is willing to torch people whose political views don’t align with his own. In another ad, the same candidate talks about “cracking down” on illegal immigration while a translator delivers his message in Spanish. At one point, the translator holds his head with both hands and says “ay caramba.”

Another Missouri candidate has a television ad showing him with a grenade launcher. The ad says the candidate “will return fire.”

Recent national events led to calls for politicians to tone down their rhetoric. Apparently these Missouri candidates don’t plan to do that.

There used to be room in this country for civil discourse. In the good old days, it was OK to politely disagree with someone without threatening to set them on fire. There is no nuance in modern American politics, no room for disagreement or moderation or anything other than who can be the loudest and the most absurd.

We can’t pretend that there is no connection between this new lowbrow, playground bully style of campaigning and the political violence that seems bound to increase. This, unfortunately, is what we’ve become.

I’m grateful that I live in a state where the only things the governor apparently wants to take a flamethrower to are public education and freedom of information.

At the same time, I’m hoping Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn’t accidentally stumble across a Missouri television station.

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Scott Loftis is editor and publisher of the Carroll County News. His email address is SLoftis@CarrollCoNews.com.