When the media called Rudolph Giuliani "America's Mayor," I would often think about them calling Bill Cosby "America's Dad."
A Reader Comment from Chris in New Hampshire addressed this:
~ When people call someone "America's ____________," it's not a good sign.
Giuliani was "America's Mayor." Bill Cosby was "America's Dad."
What binds the two together is that both were, for a time, untouchable regardless of what they did because people wanted perfect heroes to latch onto in times of crisis.
People wanted someone to embody resistance to the devastation of terrorism, and the press chose Giuliani.
People wanted the image of a happy, funny, upper-middle class Black paterfamilias of a family that was thriving in America and largely untroubled by racism, and the press chose Cosby.
The needful celebrity of Giuliani and Cosby were reductive, escapist impulses that were more about easy reassurance than addressing complex problems, and those impulses successfully excused and enabled their corruption and crimes for far too long.
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I heard someone say in a TV show, "We don't love the person, we love who we think they are."
And we believe in what we think we see. In what we think we have experienced.
In some cases, one looks back -- re-looks at a situation and events, and sees some patterns and makes different connections and realizes it might have been different from the way one thought it was.
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two more reader comments
Paul S.
New York
You are correct, he hasn't changed. He is the same person today as he was 30+ years ago. Most people are not psychologically sophisticated to make these comparisons on their own. I don't mean this in a pejorative way.
People like Giuliani exploit the public's trust for their own gain.
It's unfortunate, but it's good to know that he has been "outed" for the self-serving person he truly is. BTW, he never was my "America Mayor". That's what the American press truly got wrong.
Craig Jones
Oakmont, Pennsylvania
America desperately needed a hero in the days after 9 / 11 and Rudy Giuliani desperately needed attention. It was a perfect fit.
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...and one more
VET
North Carolina
"It was the press that labeled him "America's mayor." And the press / media kept the myth alive as it does when it has a good story to sell - regardless of truth or consequences. And Trump plays this all day long.
Just listen to the press say over and over how the indictments are boosting his poll numbers. They just love that story but it's not really true. The loyalists may be increasing their passion but the numbers are not rising.
So, press, media, what ever happened to reporting the news instead of creating exciting characters and stories and rerunning them over and over?
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painting by Patrick Antonelle
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