Goodbye and Good Riddance to Meghan McCain, Hate Magnet
To the best of my knowledge, I have never knowingly watched an entire episode of The View. It’s not my cup of tea, to put it mildly. I’m a bro’s bro, so if it’s not about babes, beer or the big game I’m not interested! That’s why the only media I consume is created by Barstool Sports.
Despite very deliberately never watching an episode of The View, on account of it being for chicks and all, I am nevertheless very familiar with its players and its central dynamic. That’s because I am sadly something of a social media addict, which means that for the last four years I’ve routinely spotted co-host Megan McCain’s famous/infamous name in the trending topics section of Twitter and wondered what stupid fucking thing she said this time.
McCain is CONSTANTLY trending on Twitter, and the question is never whether McCain said something that was stupid or smart but rather just how screamingly idiotic her words and ideas are, and how powerfully society as a whole, and not just the other, saner, less terrible women on The View must angrily condemn whatever idiocy she’s disseminating out of a toxic combination of arrogance and ignorance, aggression and entitlement.
This is what happens when your literary agent secretly hates you: they propose that you co-write a book with Megan McCain, and consequently
If you subscribe to the notion that all news is good news, then McCain is the best damn thing that ever happened to The View. Because McCain is in the news CONSTANTLY. “What stupid shit did Megan McCain say today?” has been a weird, unsettlingly popular game for rubberneckers and freelance writers for the past four years.
Yes, McCain is always generating headlines, but they are NEVER positive. McCain’s role on The View is very clearly as a powerful and effective hate magnet that sucks up the anger and rage and indignation of viewers and co-panelists and even God herself and transforms it into clickbait headlines and non-stop media attention.
Television has always thrived on conflict. But hatred is increasingly the engine that powers popular culture and our culture as a whole. It’s not enough to give us someone we disagree with or who represents viewpoints we do not share. No, in order to make an impact in our jaded society you have to give the public someone to hate, to legitimately despise, to root against with every fiber of their being.
That’s McCain. She’s all about hate. McCain lives to spew hatred and ignorance, and to do so with the infernal confidence of the absurdly privileged. But her role on The View and in society as a whole is to serve as a sponge for our hatred and contempt.
She’s on The View so that we can feel sorry for the poor women cursed with having to deal with her and her pudding-headed nonsense, your Joy Behars and Whoopi Goldbergs. She’s on The View so they can look better by comparison, and serve as audience surrogates calling McCain on her bullshit constantly, and to the delight of the Megan McCain schadenfreude brigade.
Now McCain is FINALLY leaving The View, and not a moment too soon. I’m sure she’ll be saying obnoxious things that would fill us with disgust if we were to hear them but now NO ONE has to listen to her or write articles about what an idiot she is.
The View is about to get a lot less newsworthy as well as less tense and obnoxious. I can’t imagine how much more pleasant it will be for everyone involved with a Meghan McCain-less The View.
Wait, Megan McCain is related to the late politician John McCain? How come she never mentions it?
We can now all ignore Meghan McCain, which, come to think of it, is probably what we should have been doing all along, and would have done if we weren’t all so goddamn addicted to slow-motion train wrecks and messy drama.
Be a part of the recently launched Indiegogo campaign for 7 Days in Ohio II: Return of the Juggalos over at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/make-7-days-in-ohio-2-return-of-the-juggalo-happen--2/x/14797497#/ and help send Nathan back to the Gathering for the EIGHTH time for more literary magic, madness and miracles!
Pre-order The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s upcoming book about the very best of the very worst and get instant access to all of the original pieces I’m writing for them AS I write them (there are six so far, including Shasta McNasty and the first and second seasons of Baywatch Nights) AND, as a bonus, monthly write-ups of the first season Baywatch Nights you can’t get anywhere else (other than my Patreon feed) at https://the-joy-of-trash.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace
Also, BUY the RIDICULOUSLY SELF-INDULGENT, ILL-ADVISED VANITY EDITION of THE WEIRD ACCORDION TO AL, the Happy Place’s first book. This 500 page extended edition features an introduction from Al himself (who I co-wrote 2012’s Weird Al: The Book with), who also copy-edited and fact-checked, as well as over 80 illustrations from Felipe Sobreiro on entries covering every facet of Al’s career, including his complete discography, The Compleat Al, UHF, the 2018 tour that gives the book its subtitle and EVERY episode of The Weird Al Show and Al’s season as the band-leader on Comedy Bang! Bang!
Only 23 dollars signed, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here