Know Your Buffoons! Buffoonicus ad-Newseam

Want a sneak preview of the book? Here's the seventh in our series where we help you "Know Your Buffoons", featuring the amazing art of John Pennisi - Buffoonicus ad-Newseam.

"The Hack" stands on the periphery of politics. S/he rarely pursues elective office, never crafts any policy directly, and does not represent a ward or a district. Yet, Hacks can hold more sway over who holds office and setting policy goals than many voting blocs because of their ability to sculpt and mold narratives intended to sway opinion under the guise of reporting facts.

Hacks do not just report events, they create them.  Sensationalism, lies by omission, straw man arguments, increased hyperbole, and fact-shading are among the tools employed by Hacks in creating an “aesthetic fallacy” ; a set of selected facts used to build into a “beautiful story” rather than facts functional to empirical truths. 

There have been so many options of late, given the bias prevalent in mainstream corporate media. But I thought that CNN's Jim Acosta fit the bill quite well. Acosta's “beautiful story” portrays himself as a crusader for truth against a president who doesn’t know the meaning of the word. But, Acosta is more like a grifter out to make himself and his network more marketable, and, thus, richer. Perfect example: Acosta's wrote a memoir to parlay his visibility and his narcissistic self-image into bank. Unfortunately for him, it flopped. 

Learn about "Hacks" and other Buffoons when you buy my book, "Schnooks, Crooks, Liars & Scoundrels: A Field Guide To Identifying Political Buffoons" on Amazon. 

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