Cure for Media Frenzy: the right-side of your brain

It's scary out there? People are talking, tweeting themselves into a nervous breakdown. Civility... or Civil War? Above the frenzy we have Donald Trump. Trump savors the sound of dropped jaws and shocked gasps only he seems capable of creating daily to feed the 24/7 news beast.  Donald Trump is operating from the right side of the brain. Let Marshall McLuhan, media guru and the Oracle of Toronto, explain:

Marshall McLuhan felt that the Edgar Allen Poe short “A Descent into the Maelstrom” (1841) about two Norwegian fishermen brothers pulled out of their boat by the swirling waters anticipates our media vortex. One brother drowns. The other survives. The second brother survives the maelstrom. He attains a revelation while in the midst of the whirlpool, a moment of beautiful clarity, an understanding of how objects are moving, being hurled through the water. That is the moment of clarity we need now.

The surviving fisherman’s revelation suggests we can achieve clarity regarding our media situation, or "nightmare" situation, as some would characterize the hurly-burly of social media.

People feel afraid. The natural order seems upended by Donald Trump. Sure he's a fast-talking, constantly shifting New York real estate developer with a penchant for bankruptcy and attacking enemies without conscience. But the fear that this is all Trump may be misplaced.

But Trump may simply be a signal, a blinking neon sign perhaps, that the medium has changed—from analog (newspapers) to digital (cellphone).

Trump may just be the first political candidate to grasp the speed and ferocity of social media. His strategy, obviously, has worked. He is on the lips of all, friends and enemies alike, 24/7, night and day, sun up to sundown.

We’re talking about a change in the medium—from print to electronic—that has turned the world upside down even more than Donald Trump.

On September 6, 1976, Marshall McLuhan appeared on NBS’s Tomorrow Show with host Tom Snyder. Their exchange helps us understand the panicky nature of our digital lifestyle. McLuhan explains that “right-brain thinkers” do better in this All-at-once vortex of electrons we now inhabit.

Snyder: Before I go too far, what is the world of electronic simultaneity?

McLuhan: All-at-onceness. At the speed of light there is no sequenced; everything happens at the same instant. That’s acoustic, and everything happens at once. There’s no continuity, there’s no follow-through, it’s all just now. And that, by the way, is the way sport is. Sports tend to be like that. And in terms of the new lingo of the hemispheres, it’s all right hemsphere. Games are all right hemisphere because they involve the whole man, and they are all participatory and they are all uncertain. There is no continuity. That’s just all surprise, unexpectedness, and total involvement. 

Snyder:Is that okay, do you think?

McLuhan: The hemisphere thing?

Snyder:Yes, but I mean the whole thing, all surprise, all spontaneity, no connection, just all at one time. Is that okay for people?

McLuhan: Well “okay,” meaning is it good for people?

Snyder: Yes.

McLuhan: We live in a wworld where everything is supposed to be one-thing-at-a-time, lineal, connected, logical and goal-oriented. So, obviously for the left-hemisphere world, this new right hemisphere dominance is bad. We’re now living in a world which pushes the right hemisphere way up because it’s an all-at-once-world. The right hemisphere is an all-at-once simultaneous world. So the right hemisphere, by pushing up into dominance, is making the old left-hemisphere world, which is our educational establishment, our political establishment, make it look very foolish. It’s just a flip that is taking place.

Understanding Me, 2003

Lectures and Interviews (page 246-2247)

Marshall McLuhan

Right brain thinking moves the world. The simultaneous environment has taken over. The shift from print to electronic, as massive as the invention of the printed book by Johannes Gutenberg, has all of us by the throat and will not let go. The best plan... try to get some perspective like that surviving Norwegian fisherman from the Poe story. Otherwise, we may all sink into the maelstrom.

Michael Phelps 2008 Olympics video... and Brian Williams revealed

Lately I've taken to going to the Dollar stores-- Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, etc.. These are the discount stores. Usually they offer inferior grade products at very low prices. But sometimes you find the same products as the supermarkets - Crest, Colgate-- at much cheaper prices. I was checking out at the cash register and noticed a 2008 Beijing Olympics video for $1.00. Yes, one dollar. Hence the name of the store. I took the plunge. And the ending had a nice surprise-- especially for media fans.

Arrived home and discovered the entire video was devoted to Michael Phelps. Phelps did the near impossible feat of winning 8 gold medals at a single Olympics. I'm not a huge swimming fan. I decided to watch it. Gotta get my money's worth, right?

Michael has a freakish body, so well-suited to swimming. He's 6'4" but has the torso of a 6'8" man--and broad shoulders. His lower body is the opposite-- compact, like a man only 6 feet tall. He's double jointed in the elbows. The guy has so much flex in his body-- his arms and legs move like a fish waving its fins to glide through the water. The underwater camera shows his flexibility as he powers through his races.

But now to the ending. Bob Costas did most of the interviews of Phelps after his Beijing achievements. Michael's mother appeared and spoke very well. Michael had the role model of a loving mother, a single mom determined to provide for her children, to inspire him.

But then came the surprise ending. Brian Williams appears and screen and does a final interview with Michael. Brian tries to employ youthful lingo. "Are you cool with that?" Brian Williams asks the question twice; likely he inquired about dealing with the crowds and the fame.  Then Brian Williams asks what songs Michael has on his iPod.

"I had 'Lil Wayne" for the last song," says Michael.

"Oh, Weezy," adds Brian. He's clearly trying to keep up with the youth culture.

Maybe Williams catches the ridiculous turn things are taking. He smiles impishly and says something to the effect "who wouldn't be listening to Weezy before a race...." adding a slight ironic twist to the statement. Michael laughs, and the interview ends soon afterward.

Brian Williams gets revealed as something of a poser. Of course, he got caught years later for a bigger sin-- making stuff up about reporting under enemy fire. He's tried to add luster to his war reporting and the soldiers on the scene revealed the Brian Williams account as distorted and false.

Brian had ego problems got revealed by the Phelps interview, almost a premonition of later problems. He tried to present himself as hipper and younger when he interviewed Michael Phelps. Brian Williams' status as middle-aged man news reporter made him inadequate, perhaps overmatched by the glow of Michael Phelps-- full of youth, beauty and talent.

Of course, Brian William's 2008 Olympic interview mistake, a slight faux pas, has little or no consequence compared to what came later. The same insecurities, though, predicted the total fabrications to come a few years later. Those mistakes, not-quite-Walter Cronkite bragging,  almost cost him his broadcast career. The war story lies did end his tenure as  Evening News anchor at NBC.

Dave Letterman-- Tense Moment with Brian Williams

Watched the Late Show with David Letterman a few nights ago. Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchorman, was his lone guest. Brian knows television performance but jumped in almost too eagerly. He wanted to be funny and you cannot rush funny. And never try to compete mano a mano with Dave Letterman or even exchange volleys with David right from the get-go. But Dave stayed cool and  brought Brian back down to earth and guided him closer to his sweet spot. They got to talking in a comfortable way and Brian's humor came across.

On odd moment came about when Brian Williams brought up his actress daughter Allison, a star on Girls, the HBO series written, directed and acted in by Lena Dunham. Williams spoke highly of the talent of Lena Dunham in the manner of a true gentleman. He did not brag on his daughter or even speak much about his daughter until he mentioned she had an upcoming appearance on the Tonight Show. Whoops! Brian corrected himself, she actually had an upcoming appearance on Dave Letterman's show. This seemed like a genuine slip of the lip by the seasoned anchor pro. The plot thickens...

Most interesting was David's toxic reaction to Brian's mention of the Tonight Show. Dave slipped from his confident self to a bitter David. You could feel the the tension, the tears of a clown began rising from the normally unflappable Letterman. Williams tried to calm things and mentioned he was doing a documentary-style story on the promotion of Jimmy Fallon to the Tonight Show chair as a special for NBC. David mentioned that he too should be interviewed for the story. David insisted he should be part of the documentary, and referred several times to "little Jimmy Fallon" in a snide way. A bit of strained comedy ensued within the tense exchange. Jimmy is a kid-sounding name  (and coincidentally also Jimmy Kimmel's name, the other new kid on the late night schedule).  Jimmy Fallon, certainly not diminutive in a physical sense, can seem like a well-meaning child compared to the comic brilliance of Letterman. Never forget... Letterman brought the late night talk show genre back from the somnambulism of the latter part of Johnny Carson's tenure. And he worked to keep Carson relevant.

Letterman's reaction to Williams' faux pas revealed the deep pain still being felt long after he lost the Tonight Show gig to Leno. He again referred to little Jimmy Fallon. David always has had an edge, an maybe that's why the network chose Jay Leno over David Letterman.

I remember watching Beavis and Butthead once and they referred to Dave as "Letter-dude." That cracked me up. Dave's stodginess needs to be punctured from time to time. "Letter-dude" helps bring Letterman down to earth. I've always had an immense fondness for Letter-dude. For large portions of the audience he will always be a bit too acerbic...But the good news for fans is we can keep watching and enjoying Letterman, the maestro of late night.

Jimmy Fallon-- Most Cheerful Man on Late Night

Watched Howard Kurtz on his Reliable Sources show this Sunday morning on CNN. His guest Ken Tucker discussed Jay Leno's firing by NBC, for an 8 minute segment entitled  "Jay Leno, fired and smiling." Tucker was asked whether the the late night format, a 60 year old tradition,  can be revived to something different for the future.

Tucker wondered about the wisdom of NBC's second firing Leno, this time for Jimmy Fallon, a guy he predicted will draw a smaller audience than Leno. Tucker took issue with Fallon's inability to interview heavyweight guests like Barack Obama. Fallon, he added, lacks awareness of the late night tradition and history. He predicted  Fallon and NBC will swoon in the ratings like Conan did. Tucker unceremoniously called Conan O'Brien ... "a shriveled carrot of a man... pushed to the margins, there's no buzz."

Tucker feels the Johnny Carson mantle should have been passed to David Letterman rather than Jay Leno. Letterman has more gravitas than the others. Tucker said Jimmy Kimmel, Fallon's likely main competitor, understands irony, from the School of David Letterman, but reveals nothing of himself. Letterman, unlike Kimmel, understands the late night franchise, talks about his life and has interests beyond Hollywood and the world of entertainment.

"Is Jimmy Fallon just an empty, though stylish suit, bound for low ratings?" Kurtz called Fallon "the most cheerful guy on late night" and cheerful goes a long way on television. Fallon has musical chops and can do a skit as his SNL pedigree guarantees. Kurtz and Tucker pointed out Fallon's savvy regarding the internet, Twitter and his demonstrated ability to go viral with clips. Maybe the new job description for  late night TV host has becomes or devolves to to a guy with a baton in his hand-- a symphony conductor for all things electronic.

Tucker likes Stephen Colbert, playing the real Stephen Colbert and not the twisted right wing persona, as a late night host for a major network. Colbert, however, may be even smarter, kinkier and more of a cult hero than Conan-- a prescription for limited ratings. Colbert's interviews play like standup with the interviewee serving as the straight man to Colbert's virtuoso improv. Late night hosts are supposed to be modest and must always make the guest look good. Colbert's pace is frenetic, offering little of the soporific pleasures of Late Night Starring Johnny Carson. We loved the familiar tropes and Ed McMahon's big brotherly guffaws for years until we got sick of them. Colbert does not provide the needed space. He races along, not the optimum rhythm of late night which allows some room for relaxed viewer participation. Jon Stewart is better at that.

Ken Tucker never has to make decisions with unknown outcomes. He always knows everything-- the definition of a critic. A Ken Tucker endorsement probably proves Stephen Colbert makes the absolute worst choice as late night host on network television! But I did enjoy much of what Ken Tucker had to say about the latest skirmish in the Late Night Wars.