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Camden: Talking Head Pivot an unfortunate American export

By Jim Camden
Published: October 19, 2016, 6:01am

Two weeks in Central Europe can convince one that America is exporting some elements of its 21st century culture that do us no credit.

One is Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, with the green and white mermaid signs nearly as ubiquitous in some European cities as in the Pacific Northwest.

The other is the Talking Head Pivot: the practice of people who appear on news programs under the pretext of adding context to an issue, but who really just shout at each other without paying any attention to the question they have just been asked.

This campaign season the THP shows up every evening on cable news programs and on Sunday morning news “magazines” when a mouthpiece for the Trump campaign sits on one side of a news anchor and a mouthpiece for the Clinton campaign sits on the other. The anchor could ask about the weather, and within a sentence the first person will pivot to today’s talking points and the other will interrupt with a counterpoint.

During a recent trip, it seemed clear the THP has caught on with 24-hour cable news networks in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. I can’t speak Polish, German or Czech, so I’m making assumptions based on the facial expressions and volume of strident speakers who appeared as I surfed through channels for weather updates.

The beauty of the THP is that one can get a feel for the ardor of the speakers without ever knowing what they say.

On their English language counterparts available in hotels and guest homes, the THP was very much in evidence. Two weeks ago, Polish women essentially went on strike over proposed legislation to make that country’s already strict abortion laws draconian. Thousands of women, most dressed in black, refused to go to work, took to the streets, and eventually convinced parliament to drop the whole thing.

Having just left Krakow for Prague the day before, we wondered how the protest was going and flipped on English-language Al-Jazeera, which showed a few brief shots of demonstrators in the streets before a moderator tried to engage two speakers on a split screen. They talked over each other as they trotted out well-rehearsed talking points for or against the protest.

Except for some fine points of the legislation in question, it could have been a pro-life vs. pro-choice argument on CNN. It was the classic THP — no matter what one talking head said, the other one would interrupt and pivot to the point they came to the studio to make.

While it is possible to scoff at the culinary value of Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes, they have the saving grace of disappearing in a month or so, replaced by a new season’s overly sweet caffeinated pick-me-up. The THP is likely here to stay.

For that, Americans should apologize to the rest of the world.

Cellphone taxes are tops

Washington continues to top a list its residents probably don’t brag about — the list for taxes collected on cellphone service. A new study by the Tax Foundation keeps Washington at No. 1, a spot it has occupied since 2014, when it overtook Nebraska in the race to put taxes on wireless service.

To add insult to injury, neighboring states of Idaho and Oregon are Nos. 48 and 50 on the list.

Cellphone taxes and fees are creeping up around the country, said Joe Henchman, vice president for state projects at the foundation and one of the authors of the study. This comes as competition among the carriers has driven the cost of service down in many areas.

“Historically, cellphone service was viewed as a luxury,” he said. For many people who have dropped their landlines, however, it has become their prime or only source of phone service.

For government officials looking for revenue, tax on the service has the advantage of being “fairly opaque,” he said. “Many people direct-pay their bill or if they look at the sheet they don’t spend a lot of time scrutinizing it,” Henchman said.

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