Netflix's "Death To 2020" - 2020, Die, Die
Released 27-Dec-2020, Death to 2020 is a mockumentary recap of the year by Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, produced for Netflix under their Broke and Bones production company.
Despite a few instances where I found myself mildly laughing out loud (one was referring to Harris as, “besides Donald Trump, the second person of colour on the ballot.”), and a general look at Woke and Internet celebrity/influencer culture that captured their absurdity dead-on though failed to deliver any humorous insight into these, it may have been a great success had it contained a hypothetical “what if” future based on our present state rather than an attempt to recap 8760 hours of very real zaniness into a 1-hour comedy special that’s bound to be filtered through political lenses.
Indeed. Normally, comedy flows out of politics. Befitting the ass-backwards year that it’s been, Brooker and Jones take comedy and deliver partisan politics.
Perhaps, though I disagree, it’s because it’s now impossible—due the murkiness of the information landscape—to consider any moment and event of the past year without putting a political stamp on each that depends on one’s broader political view, but either way, one can’t deny that Death to 2020 is a highly-politicized put-down, not an earnest parody.
Consequently, the writers miss out on half of what made 2020 so absurd, and positively ludicrously farcical when both account for the whole. A brief example of this is closing off with Biden’s “clear words of hope” without even according a second to the fact that he was, in fact, blabbering gibberish throughout half his campaign! Now there’s comedy gold! As such, they’re sure to trigger anger from a good portion of viewers rather than uniting through comedy.
Too blinded by partisanship, too proud for self-deprecation, or censored by Netflix into a limited interpretation of events?
If you’re seeing things from my perspective, then that anger will surely be linked to the lack of objectivity displayed and how this reinforces prejudiced partisan views that ridicule profoundly serious matters that concern all, coercing permissible attitudes out of individuals who wouldn’t otherwise accept the same views if aimed at them, which is what, ironically, such permissible attitudes will allow.
These moments stick out:
.
1. Impeachment
The subject of Trump’s impeachment is, essentially, summed up as an indictment he got away with thanks to shady Republican doings in a scene that features Lisa Kudrow as Trump’s “non-official spokesperson”, which denies any accusations, calling them “baseless”, which the narrator, Laurence Fishburne, then agrees with, to then add, “except for the transcript” that proves otherwise.
There’s a nuance between saying that an “impeachment is baseless” and saying that “accusations are baseless”; the only quotes I was able to find, along with headlines, are those that use “impeachment” in the same phrase as “baseless.”
Anybody who has taken the time to read the actual transcripts and who managed to step outside of their anti-Trump hate to weigh the actual accusations for what they are in the midst of what was/is happening, internally and globally, the significance of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory, A.K.A. the anti-Trumpers DAnon (QAnon for Democrats), and past Presidential deeds, one is forced to call the impeachment “baseless,” more so since it’s the first fully partisan impeachment in US history.
Despite claims that charges may be awaiting Trump, there’s no concrete mention of anything related to Russia being floated, even if they used the wrong word to investigate him, looking only for legally-defined “conspiracy” and not “collusion”. A bit before the election, did Mueller happen to find the correct rubber stamp while vacuuming behind his couch, is that what happened, and with the right red ink this is meant to convert all non-evidence into evidence?
Business fraud and obstruction of justice, with plenty of exaggerations for the latter, IMO. Charges for Cohen and others varied from tax to “hush money” given to that porn star that showed up with allegations of sexual harassment, lying, and stuff and links which I doubt full well the Democrats would survive any better had such an unconstitutionally wide net been cast over the lot of them? When the full force of a federal investigation comes down on anyone, it'll find crimes if it really wants to.
"But Trump is the devil," claim hardcore anti-Trumpers, who will have none of it, because of redacted bits—didn’t Trump waive his executive protection on this?—and constant declarations of shocking proof that no one has had a real glimpse at, in contrast with a very real laptop and records that the Leftist machine refuses to even examine?
Too much looniness. Meanwhile, there's a dangerous and frightening precedence establishing a new norm because of it.
Due to all that’s involved, it’s far from wise to blow off the third impeachment attempt, the one that did stick, all around that one call… and with charges that, along with the FISA abuses—and pretty much all of the Crossfire Hurricane ops—come across like the Dems desperately wanting Trump outa there through whatever avenue, even if it meant getting him suspended for not having his hall pass.
There’s far too much that’s not satisfactorily answered, and I’m far from convinced that the popular “Viktor Shokin was corrupt and everyone wanted him fired” storyline is the right one. Half of Europe and Ukraine’s head of state also wanted him gone, but it took a $1B ‘nudge’ (withholding of aid) from Biden just to type a dismissal letter? That Biden did it with the right paperwork being filed and his boss’ awareness isn’t my issue; I just don’t think Obama and Biden were being honest to Congress. The timeline and all the events and claims made by Biden, especially ones made over a year ago, stating that “[he] didn’t know [Hunter] was on the board of that company,” point to everything other than “normal human behaviour and business.”
I’ve much to say, having gone so far as watching several hours of Ukrainian and Chinese news and archive footage, which I’ll sum up as: There’s far more going on than anybody can assert!
There’s too much that surrounds this event and the clear FISA abuses—which includes an exploitation of Obama’s increase of NSA’s two-hops rule to a three-hops one that pretty much grants them freedom to spy on any US citizen, and used on Trump (who’s impeachment rests on a call to organize an investigation on clearly shady dealings that seemed to get swept under the rug)—and, so, to see humour in reinforcing the superficial plot that did nothing but impair US government, forge a deeper divide between citizens, AND damage the lives of innocent individuals, while it severely obscured the validity of highly dubious and potentially treacherous acts and relations of others, doing so to deliver a cheap “opposite” joke, manages to serve up the exact type of superficial politics that’s produced the soap opera that’s being lived, and what I feared this Netflix special was going to be.
.
2. "Conservative Voices Are Being Silenced."
This part, again with Lisa Kudrow as the “non-official spokesperson”, along with the way they brush off Big-Tech’s control over information, is a sure sign that the funding controlled the joke’s or that the jokes are served up by myopic people who confuse “hip” with “intelligence”.
Reducing the issue to that one phrase to then list a series of conservative outlets on which she voiced that phrase was a funny bit, but one that unfortunately gives credence to an entirely reductive, thus, wrong way of looking at it, and it’s allowing for a dystopian shape to take form and creep in.
The accurate way of looking at it: “The narrative control imposed on all favours a Leftist agenda.”
I'm aiming to take a better look at Media Matters’ oft cited claims in an upcoming post, which proclaim that “facts simply don’t back up sweeping assertions” that conservative posts are being suppressed. Their study, which just repeats that study, has become an automatically referenced tribal weapon against any serious consideration and discussions on the matter, having turned into a “sweeping assertion” itself to refute all party-targeted censorship.
However, it seems clear that they’re taking interesting data and forcing an interpretation, adding another fully unnecessary layer that makes it harder for pleased partisans to see what's much more than petty partisan complaints, and harder still for anyone to address it with legislative focus and validity. Media matters, but for whom?
The reason I make the above statement is that, based on "engagement", which is what the Media Matters studies do, it seems quite a leap to say that social media platforms don't censor conservative pages, it favours them, far more so to allow— through increasingly bold pronouncements with each repetition and never an explicit caveat—for anyone to arguably conclude that the media doesn't censor conservative views, it favours them. Seems to me important aspects of "behaviour" are being disregarded while overlooking something as basic as topic concentration, and the dilution due to the greater number of Left-leaning pages, and it's impact on engagement.
But, any hoot, my concern isn't Republican versus Democratic Facebook and Twitter censorship, it's how the entire Establishment-linked media arm has acted like one big propaganda machine.
Just one example amongst many will make my point: "...fine people on both sides..."
The fact that there ever was, and still is, shock and debate over that quote, never mind all the fumbling and manipulation in lieu of an easy and clear-cut "fact check" entry (I examine one of these here (up soon)), should have anyone considering my version of that "being silenced" statement more carefully, seeing nothing reassuring in such a joke, my laughter quickly turning to anger.
3. RBG's Dying Wish
Taking advantage of their platform to hammer in their politics concerning SCOTUS by asserting that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish was grossly spat on, then crapped on with the appointment of Amy Coney-Barrett, the team behind Death to 2020 provide a quintessential example of partisan hypocrisy and that loony thinking I described in a previous piece.
All those who cursed Trump and Republicans over this, are you aware that RBG made this dying wish to Clara Spera, her granddaughter, and no one else. Spera so happens to be an abortion rights activist, and has been vocal about her fears re SCOTUS and abortion. This was RBG's "most fervent wish," yet, despite being such a brilliant legal mind, in the days prior to her demise she only saw fit to tell her granddaughter, with no witnesses, and no one had a smart phone handy with that nifty camera feature? I find this to be more of an insult to RBG than doubting Spera's claim.
If you were a referee or a judge, and, given all the lies flung against Trump amidst the nasty fight for senate that's taking place, what would your ruling be based on those facts? Imagine if the situation was flipped and you were asked to believe this, knowing it could potentially translate into losing the senate and any footing in government.
To revive this issue and any associated hate through statements that affirm a claim that can't ever be proven as factual—there was no joke there—takes us back to the shallow partisan politics that's sure to divide Death to 2020's audience and appreciation since, after all, that's what it's done to the country.
.
4. Moral Superiority Out Of Ignorance.
The following comment, made by Samuel Jackson:
“Despite everything he did in the past four years, over 70 million Americans were absolutely rooting for Trump. It’s either terrifying, or the most inspiring love story of our age.”
Allow me to rewrite what he should be saying, ideally, in a documentary:
“Despite everything I chose to believe in the past four years, which revealed how bigoted I could be if I allowed media to do my thinking, I’m wondering why over 70 million Americans are rooting for Trump? It’s terrifying how ignorant I really am, and why I should be inspired to act my age and stop my partisan love story.”
Conclusion
What's that quote? Comedy is tragedy plus time?
Well, still too damn early!
.
Images: Screenshots - Netflix: Death to 2020
.
.
.
