More than twenty years ago Neil Postman observed the demise of serious political discourse and identified television as the culprit. According to Postman, the triviality of television makes everything on it trivial…including political speech and campaigning. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman argued, “The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining” (p. 87). Postman maintained that television reduces important conversations to snippits and sound bites, with too much attention paid to the image and too little to the message. For Postman, as with McLuhan, the medium is the message--and TV is a visual medium that caters to those who have short attention spans. Postman also observed more than twenty years ago that the emphasis on the visual nature of the medium means that we will no longer consider overweight or homely candidates. And those with facial hair shouldn’t even think about running for office. But for a candidate who is blessed with good looks, a quick wit, and an ability to perform in front of the cameras, the sky (or the Whitehouse) is the limit.
It would come as no surprise to Postman, (who died in 2003) that Al Franken, a comedian, whose claim-to-fame is as a writer and actor for Saturday Night Live, could consider a run for political office.
Postman, N. (1985). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business. NY: Penguin books.
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