media

So What’s After Trump?

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tum

I think Trump is going to loose the election in 2016.  I give it a small chance that he won’t even get the Republican nomination if the Republican convention turns to chaos; it’d give some insiders a chance to derail him.  The media may freak out as he gets closer to the nomination (or the election) and do it’s job. This far aside, what happens after Trump?

That’s something I’m having a hard time conjuring a vision for.  There’s bits and pieces there, but no picture, like a puzzle or a shredded photo.

Trump Won’t Loose Well: He doesn’t know how to loose.  Unless he is utterly defeated and humiliated (which would require some kind of massive meltdown/failure that media and Republicans follow up on), he’s not going to actually quit.  He’ll threaten, bring lawsuits, possible found his own media empire (as some speculate he plans to).  He’ll be around.

(This is probably why it’d be good for the Republicans to try and ditch him if they can, it derails him before a melt down as the nominee.)

He’s Got Angry Followers: Enough said.  I’m honestly nervous about what’ll happen in Cleveland, though I assume my worries are overblown – until the Dallas debacle.  But these are people who won’t react well to his loss, and will probably back him as he raises hell after losing – check out this guy.

The Republicans Are In A Bind: We may blame them for Trump (I do), but the party really has neither the process nor leadership to extract themselves from Trump.  They can’t extract themselves from his followers, who are the Southern Strategy come home to roost.  They party is also facing dismal demographic problems on top of many states where modern Republican philosophy has failed.  There’s no there in there.

The Republicans Have A Trust Problem: Trump represents a massive black eye to the party.  How many people have decided not just #NeverTrump but #NeverRepublican?  The Republicans are in a loose-loose situation here – image problems, a base that compounds them.

The Media Are Clueless: The Media are clueless, and honestly we’ve been failed by any news show that doesn’t have a former Daily Show correspondent on it.  I can see the media finally digging into Trump’s past – I can’t see them handling a real public meltdown of a major figure. When Trump looses, and likely goes on a tantrum/rampage they news isn’t going to be sure how to handle it.  They’re going to look stupid – well stupider.

(I sometimes toy with suggesting that Trump is the invention of a liberal media trying to destroy the Republicans.  Except by now a small part of me sees this is kind of true.)

The vague image I see in these facets is of an angry Trump lashing out after a loss, refusing to give in, threatening lawsuits and worse, and followers likely to turn violent.  I then imagine a Republican Part and a Media simply unable to know what to do, with disjointed responses and happy-face reporting over dismal truth.

I certainly can’t see Republicans recovering.  I can’t see respect for the media returning.  I’m not sure a third party will come of this, but the Trump forces will be there.

What I can see, a ray of light perhaps, is this is the time people can rise up and be the adults in the room.  I do see a bit of an opportunity, albeit a dismal one brought on by something that never should have happened.

Sadly I’m more sure of the darkness than the light right now.

– Steve

A Three-Part Theory Of Media: When It Goes Wrong

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Last Column I explored my latest media theory – that all media we create can have three parts do it:

  • Evocative: Emotions and thoughts that it induces.
  • Directional: The direction it provides, the guidance, the inspiration.
  • Informational: The information it imparts.

Different forms of media focus on the three elements differently and do them differently. A good bit of short Kindle erotica is probably not heavy on the Informational or the Directional – it’s Evocative. A humorous historical speech focuses on the Evocative and Informational in right combinations.  Good media has the right elements to it, in the right combinations, and will differ markedly from other forms.

A good creator knows how do handle the individual elements, how they interact, and how to do them right.

Now beyond giving us yet another way to analyze media before I come up with another theory, I think this three part model also provides a useful tool to understand pathological relations we can form with media. It’s a way to understand why people can take media wrong, are deceived, or get the wrong messages.

Perhaps a bit of a dark message, but media is like anything else we put into ourselves – drugs, ideas, concepts, religion, etc.  We might as well be aware of how it can go wrong so we can be responsible about our intake of media.  Much like other things, I prefer we learn how to be responsible, not have someone do it for us.

So let’s dive into how this model can be used to diagnose when media goes wrong – or does wrong – or when people do.

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A Three-Part Theory Of Media

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I often analyze media, how it works, and what it means – which any regular reader knows. This isn’t just my generally obsessive and analytical nature; media is something many of us create from the instructional (yours truly) to fiction (like my friend Serdar). Right now if you’re here you’re probably interested in media creation, and possibly even doing it – so you’re bang alongside reading yet Another Crazy Steve Theory*.

But there’s another reason to analyze media beyond making it – and that’s to understand how it affects you and others. As we’re always consuming media (even unconsciously) in this wired age, understanding how it affects us is vital to being functional. Anyone who’s ever watched someone get a crazy and dysfunctional idea from a story or a biased newscast knows the importance of understanding media.

Lately I’ve been wondering how media influences people and how they take messages from it. In addition I’ve wondered how people can “read so much” into a piece of media that doesn’t seem to mean what they say. In time, I began to see media has three different sides to it.

Here’s my theory – that media has three components.

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