President Trump — That’s Entertainment!

[Commentary] Sixty years ago, we were all asked to take part in the world’s biggest sociological experiment: What would happen if every single person in the nation were to spend five hours a day, every day, for their entire lives, staring at a glowing box in their living room? Now, 60 years later, the results are in. And the results are: President Trump.

There are those who believe that the Roman Empire collapsed because of lead in the drinking water. The Romans were great builders of water systems, from aqueducts to heated baths to water piped into their homes. They made their pipes of lead, and, very much without realizing it, may have poisoned themselves and enfeebled their minds — slowly, over time. We were great builders of media systems. We used twisted copper and then fiber to pipe content into our homes, the way the Romans did water. And, it may be that, just as the Romans poisoned their minds with their lead-tainted drinking water, we may have all collectively poisoned or own minds with our intellectually tainted content — endless hour after hour, day after day, week after week, year after year of mindless entertainment.

[Michael Rosenblum is the founder of Current TV]