Media Orgasms

This week two more totally unfounded rumors were circulated by the media about the Palins.  The first involved Sarah Palin's  appearance to watch daughter, Bristol, on Dancing with the Stars.  Because there was booing before she was interviewed, the booing was attributed to Sarah being unpopular with the audience.  DWTS, the number one show on television, had to take time the next evening to show that the booing related to low scores given to a couple that had just danced and had nothing to do with Gov. Palin. 

The second "controversy" that was media created was Bristol's appearance in support of DWTS at the Rumrunners, an Anchorage bar and grill.  Her dance partner, also a musician, gave a performance and Bristol attended and ate some nachos and drank a glass of water. The event was covered by Entertainment Tonight and her attendance had been publicized for three days on the Bob and Mark radio show in Anchorage.  The next day, the Alaska media went nuts.  What was a 19 year old doing in a bar?  Did Bristol break the law? No one in the media bothered to check the business license status of the bar and grill.  If they had, they would have found out that the Rumrunners is licensed as a restaurant and it is legal for anyone 16 years of age to be there and eat there.  Younger children can also eat there with their familes.  After the media learned that Bristol's presence there was not violating any law, then they had to ask, was she drinking?  The Alaska beverage control was forced to conduct an investigation, gather film of the event and waste more of Alaskans' money investigating the Palins.  Many Alaskans will not hear about the resolution of this and will come away believing that Bristol was drinking in a bar and that the Palin family thinks they are above the law.

Why is it so important for people to believe that Sarah Palin's daughter has committed some crime?   Why is it so important that people think that Sarah Palin is unpopular?  It's hard to believe that Gov. Palin has done anything to anyone sufficient to justify such hate.  Is it jealousy?  Do some people resent Gov. Palin's success in business, politics, and her personal life?  It's hard to believe that jealousy could provoke such a response.  A more obvious reason is partisan political opposition.  Given that Gov. Palin did not govern from the extreme right in Alaska, and much of the anti-Palin sentiment is in Alaska, the political impetus must be coming from outside.  Perhaps some Alaska democrats feel a certain amount of guilt at having worked with Palin and having contributed to her success as governor.  Now that she's in the national arena, they have to redeem themselves by destroying what they helped to create.  Whatever the motivations, Palin supporters call this condition "Palin Derangement Syndrome or PDS".  The symptoms are that the sufferer is wedded to Sarah Palin 24/7.  They over-amplify every one of her actions and the actions of those who are with her and impute to them some inordinate significance.  They create rumors based on their "observations", circulate them on the internet and in the media creating the impression that Sarah Palin is some kind of idiot, hick, or otherwise dangerous person.  Not only does "PDS" affect the Palin family, but also anyone who is around them.  Even the DWTS audience was painted with the "PDS" brush.

The rumors of this week are not the last we will hear about Gov. Palin.  It would be a wonderful thing if, in the future, the rumors were about Sarah, and not about members of the Palin family, who have not and will not be seeking public office.