Non-explaining arrogance 2
Still thinking about the switchover to non-explaining mode, the discursive style of egomaniacs and psychopaths and chaos generators.

The switchover in politics was marked by Bush Senior. The switchover in radio was around the same time, and equally sharp.

Lately I've been listening to the 1940 series Can You Imagine That at bedtime. The announcer Lindsay MacHarrie** was a careful and courteous explainer and empathizer.

Syndicated short programs had a standard form: Teaser intro, go to quiet music so the local station could insert ads, then return for the main program. At end, outro with more quiet music to allow more ads. MacHarrie always explained each step. After the intro, he said something like "Now your local announcer will speak to you for about a minute and a half." At the end he said "Now I'll return you to the good care of your local announcer." He respected the listener and respected YOUR local announcer. (Also, local announcers may have felt obliged to show a bit more care after the compliment with an implied promise.)

What was the switchover point?

The switchover was named Rush. Rush never explained, never thanked, never gave credit. Every stage in the program happened ABRUPTLY and UNEXPECTEDLY. The monologue ended unpredictably, the first call jumped in without a moment's pause. You never knew if the current paragraph was meant to be parody or serious, which made it easy to memoryhole a mistake by post-dating it as parody.

Rush made a STRONG POINT of insisting that he was doing the program all by himself with no assistants, which was a flat lie. When co-hosts took over during his vacations or illnesses, he never thanked them. They were privileged to be his replacement, and that was payment and thanks enough.

When he discussed the LOCAL announcers who had paved the way for his career, he dismissed them as tiny meaningless losers.

This was a PERSONAL INSULT. He was talking about MY UNCLE, who had spent 20 years building a format and an audience, until the station abruptly fired him and hired Rush, who stole the format.

Normal humans express some degree of respect for the people who were CRUSHED by the onward juggernaut of a new force. The respect may be fake, but it's still the courteous thing to do. Standing on the shoulders of giants.

Psychopaths don't need to respect meat objects, because all meat objects must be KILLED and will be KILLED.

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** Footnote: MacHarrie is something of a puzzle. According to GOLDINdex, the IMDB of radio, MacHarrie was all over the syndicated programs during the '30s. Announcer for some, producer and writer for others, uncredited participant in the cast for others. He acted in a few CBS radio programs and a few movies, voicing an announcer named Lindsay MacHarrie. He never hit the 'big time', and seems to have disappeared from the online record after 1939. Did he retire from show biz? Served and killed in WW2? Unknown.
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