A Sociological Eye

This is an example of the troubling pro-Trump spin now being seen across the mainstream media, as their owners rush to curry favor with the vindictive president. This morning I decided to open the Apple News app and see what it would suggest I read. First it offered me an article following up on plane crash victims. And then: "Donald Trump Has Never Been This Popular: Polls." That Trump headline was eye-popping to me, given that the favorability polling I saw last week indicated that under half of Americans approved of Trump's performance. I felt a drop in my stomach. Had there been a sudden swelling of approval in response to a week of chaos? No, friends, there had not. Trump's approval rating in the first weeks of his second presidency remains the lowest of any president since such polls began in 1953. It's still under 50% during these first weeks of his term--the "honeymoon period" when recently-elected presidents usually see the highest approval rate...

  Credit for this familiar image goes to KC Green. The Orange Man has yet to take office, but already it feels like everything is on fire. So I am here to remind you what to do! Remember: this chaotic spew of announcements and speculations is intentional. It is called "flooding the zone with sh*t." The theory goes that setting multiple things on fire, day after day, will have the following effects:  1. It will paralyze a sector of the populace, who won't know which fire to put out first, and will just freeze, going, "I can't believe this is happening!" 2. It will divide and conquer those being attacked, because they will each want the fire at their house to be put out first, and will have screaming fights over priorities while everything burns. 3. It will make a whole swath of people act like mythic ostriches and shove their heads in the sand, singing "La la la, everything's fine! If I don't see the news, it can't hurt me!" 4. It will s...