There is no doubt that television has shaped modern public discourse, although the Internet plays even more powerful role nowadays. Chapter 9 of Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death (2006) is devoted to the role television has played in establishing contemporary political strategies. According to the author, television has changed politics by forming the audience’s expectations and self-images and by promoting certain lifestyles among politicians and their electorate. The facts and the evidence presented by Postman are strong, and, moreover, they find further development in the contemporary situation.
First of all, Postman claims that the politics’ major goal is to create the impression of excellence, clarity, and honesty as its main values, which is, in turn, the matter of advertising. According to the author, in America, an essential metaphor for political discourse “is the television commercial” (Postman 126). Using language as an instrument, television commercials have made a shift from meaning to an impression. As a result, people have turned into the consumers of images and emotional appeals rather than truthful claims and reasonable descriptions of the products offered. In order to illustrate the distance between one’s rational choices and those caused by an advertising, Postman refers to the McDonald’s commercial, that was popular around ten years ago. According to the author, this commercial promotes a kind of mythology rather than logically ordered assertions, resulting in claims “the viewer projects onto or infers from the drama” (Postman 128). While consuming images delivered through television, people develop those traits of character that make them perfect buyers. Nowadays, populism is the main instrument of politicians, as it appeals to consumers’ emotions and desires instead of reality. There are numerous recent researches conducted in order to find out what are the personal relationships among politicians. If the one asks Google to provide the First Lady’s characteristic, the most popular answers will have such titles as: “Does Melania Trump hate her husband?” or “Does Ivanka Trump Like Melania?” People are interested in drama more than in any other issues, and politicians use this passion for gossips to their advantage.
Also, Postman believes that people tend to vote for those politicians, whose personality, family life, and general style, as imaged on the screen, are the most similar to the audience’s self-image. Therefore, the most powerful influence of the television commercial on political discourse is that politicians nowadays do not offer the audience an image of themselves, but rather offer themselves as an image of the audience (Postman 134). In order to prove this statement, the author compares politicians with celebrities. He claims that political figures “may show up anywhere, at any time, doing anything,” without being considered abnormal and out of place (Postman 132). Due to television and its strategies, people are no longer able to distinguish between politics and other forms of social life. Moreover, most individuals find this process enjoyable. One of the real-life examples is the YouTube video “Slow Jam the News with President Obama,” which has 14 498 741 views by now. Being the guest of Jimmy Fallon’s show, Barack Obama discusses his accomplishments and thoughts on the 2016 election in the form of music jam. Such an approach to the process of communication between the President and his audience perfectly fits the ideas developed by Postman.
In conclusion, it is necessary to emphasize that the Postman’s approach to television and its role in society remain valid even in the Internet-focused environment. The author comes to the conclusion that entertainment has always been one of the most effective instruments used by politicians. As a result, television commercials have played a crucial role in turning the whole political discourse into a TV-show and a well-thought-out joke.
- Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. London: Penguin Books, 2006.
- “Slow Jam the News with President Obama.” YouTube, uploaded by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 9 June 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwYbVx_-qg
