A portmanteau of the
short form of the respective
words '
politics' and 'pornography'.
Political pornography - "poliporn" - is the extreme perversion of political reporting to purposefully present it as sensational and biased. The key is that it is not just
propaganda and thus misleading but that it is packaged as a product and ultimately intended to gratify the viewer in some demented way.
Although easy to misinterpret, it does not refer to political sex scandals such as the
Clinton-Lewinsky affair or countless others.
On the inspiration for the inception of the word, I quote Alec Baldwin'
s commentary on the concept in The Huffington Post:
"Pornography is the lurid and detached exploitation of
something that is essentially good, even necessary, in order to make
money, while simultaneously shaming and disgracing all of those who are involved. Instead of the basic force of sex, "political pornographers" exploit the good and necessary love of country that men and women seek to express and exercise on both sides of the aisle. Hannity is such a pornographer. He taunts and goads his listenership to express their political views in lurid, yet detached, ways. They do it in anonymity. They stress themselves to reach out and touch
people in their lurid and detached way who they do not even know. Like pornography, they exert themselves to reach a state that gives them the release that they consciously avoid through a healthier, more personal involvement. Like pornography."
Guy A: Did you see Hannity & Colmes
election coverage last night? It was such good poliporn I jizzed in my pants.
Guy B: No, I was too busy jerking off to Bill O'
Reilly's poliporn show.
Guy C: You guys are sick... I prefer my softcore CNN poliporn. It's much classier.
