"We've got to face it. Politics have entered a new stage, the television stage. Instead of long-winded public debates, the people want capsule slogans—'Time for a change'—'The mess in Washington'—'More bang for a buck'—punch lines and glamour."— A Face in the Crowd (1957)
© The Rutherford Institute
It is a heavily scripted, tightly choreographed, star-studded, ratings-driven, mass-marketed,
costly exercise in how to sell a product—in this case, a presidential candidate—
to dazzled consumers who will choose image over substance almost every time.
This year's presidential election, much like every other election in recent years, is what historian Daniel Boorstin referred to as a "
pseudo-event": manufactured, contrived, confected and devoid of any intrinsic value save the value of being advertised.
It is the end result of a culture that is moving away from substance toward sensationalism in an era of mass media.
As author Noam Chomsky rightly
observed, "It is important to bear in mind that political campaigns are designed by the same people who sell toothpaste and cars." In other words, we're being sold a
carefully crafted product by a monied elite who are masters in the art of making the public believe that they need exactly what is being sold to them, whether it's the latest high-tech gadget, the hottest toy, or the most charismatic politician.
Tune into a political convention and you will find yourself being sucked into an alternate reality so glossy, star-studded, emotionally charged and entertaining as to make you forget that you live in a police state. The elaborate stage show, the costumes, the actors, the screenplay, the lighting, the music, the drama: all carefully calibrated to appeal to the public's need for bread and circuses, diversion and entertainment, and pomp and circumstance.
© The Rutherford Institute
After all, who cares about police shootings, drone killings, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture schemes, private prisons, school-to-prison pipelines, overcriminalization, censorship or any of the other evils that plague our nation when you can
listen to the croonings of Paul Simon, laugh along with Sarah Silverman, and get misty-eyed over the First Lady's vision of progress in America.
But make no mistake:
Americans only thinkthey're choosing the next president.
In truth, however, they're engaging in the illusion of participation culminating in the reassurance ritual of voting. It's just another Blue Pill, a manufactured reality conjured up by the matrix in order to keep the populace compliant and convinced that their vote counts and that they still have some influence over the political process.
Stop drinking the Kool-Aid, America.
Comment: An unwritten law in US politics: The bigger the personage and wrongdoing, the bigger the fuss and deflection.