Creating Credibility

Dear George,

Credibility is like a handful of sand. The tighter you try to grip it, the faster is slips through your fingers, until only a few grains are left.

“Credibility” was plutocratic buzz word that enabled us to sink blood and billions into Vietnam long after the troops knew it was a crock of shit. Now it’s the magic incantation that is spilling the blood of our youth on the sands of Iraq and in the mountains of Afghanistan.

This is why the corporatization of the media has been such a godsend. I know you were a little zoned out during Vietnam, but there was quite an uproar over what people called the “credibility gap.” This was the gap between what the Washington was telling us and what people were reading in the press and seeing on television.

Notice, if you would, that no such gap exists today. This is because the nature of the media has changed. They no longer give a shit about facts. The House of Murrow is now The House of Dreck, and we are asshole deep in the age of stenographic journalism. This enables us to maintain our credibility by lying through our teech.

It makes the arrested adolescents in their Beltway gameroom feel good knowing that they are shoring up their credibility even as it drains away.

Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones