How did politics get so awful? I blame MTV circa 1992.

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/04/mtv-rock-the-vote-politics-entertainment

More specifically, I blame the music channel’s “Rock the Vote” campaign in the early 1990s. That’s the moment when the tastemakers of popular culture decided the widespread perception that politics isn’t cool was a problem to be solved. Politics had to be made cool. And therefore not boring.

The advantage of being a charismatic or entertaining personality in politics doesn’t mean the purpose of politics and government is to entertain. There’s plenty of deliberate entertainment to do that. Pro sports, superhero movies, prestige TV, swords-and-sorcery cable shows, the Kardashians — whatever it is that amuses or enthralls you is widely on offer, separate from the halls of Congress and state capitols.

Today’s political scene is spilling over with over-the-top, provocative, larger-than-life performers, from Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene to AOC and her supporting cast in “the Squad.”

Getting a lot more Americans interested in politics is not the same as getting a lot more Americans knowledgeable about the workings of democracy or government. It has brought the worldview associated with sports-talk radio to politics; you’ve got a team and you want that team to win, and the other team is always the worst, and the refs are always unfairly treating your side. Heaven forbid you concede that the other team played a better game.

No wonder so many Americans are angry and depressed. Maybe part of the problem is they sense that too many politicians, in a dangerous era with serious ills that need addressing, approach their job with the fatuous look-at-me self-absorption of a TikTok influencer.

*******************************************
Interesting op ed. I tend to agree with it. He also talks about how we now live in an age of on-demand consumerism and how folks can't understand how long governing takes. Yes, more people are voting and are interested in politics, but it doesn't mean they are knowledgeable about how democracy or government works .

[Blues Heron]

1. This dude thought Iran Contra, Reaganism etc. was boring

This guy is full of it- it was the utmost of cool to care about world politics to anyone who had ever paid attention, or read the newspaper in the eighties. The Clash made it cool, to put it in the context of this piece.

quote -

The odd thing is that when I was growing up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I thought politics was boring, or at least perceived that others deemed it boring. Being interested in what elected leaders were debating and doing was considered the opposite of cool; only nerds cared about it (admittedly, I was nerd-qualified for lots of other reasons).

[blm]

10. Exactly! He's a Left blaming propagandist.

[Haggard Celine]

2. That was the year Bill Clinton first won.

He went on the late shows and played his sax on Letterman, I think. At the time, I wondered whether that was such a good idea. But he won, and I was happy about that.

[HardPort]

3. Nah. It was Reagan's embrace of far-right Christian Evangelicals. But go ahead, blame MTV?

I was in my early 20s in 1992. At the time, I felt Rock the Vote was what we today would call cringe. Asking Bill Clinton boxers or briefs was "gag me w/ a spoon" in the parlance of the 80s. None of that helped, but the awfulness in today's politics is Reagan's fault for the above, for ending the fairness doctrine, for being a corporate stooge, etc. Then came Newt spewing poison, hate, and grievance.

And the line you include above equating TFG and MTG with AOC and the "Squad" -- as we used to say back in the day, Fuck that Shit.

[RainCaster]

5. I'm with you-Sir Ronny started this shit

Then add two Bushes, a Gingrich, then finally DFT and that's how we got to the Party of MAGAts.

[lees1975]

23. The media propagandist was Rush Limbaugh

who was one of the most evil, demented, racist, hate-filled monsters on the air, worse than Josef Goebbels.

[blm]

12. I'm horrified Dems are open to this RW spin.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. What? Did you read the article?

[Ocelot II]

4. A lot of truth here, especially this:

Getting a lot more Americans interested in politics is not the same as getting a lot more Americans knowledgeable about the workings of democracy or government. It has brought the worldview associated with sports-talk radio to politics; you’ve got a team and you want that team to win, and the other team is always the worst, and the refs are always unfairly treating your side. Heaven forbid you concede that the other team played a better game.

You don’t have to look far to find Americans calling for speech restrictions that would violate the First Amendment, gun bans that would violate the Second Amendment, and “tough on crime” policies that would violate the Fourth Amendment. People complain that government isn’t doing what they want it to do, without caring to examine the document that lays out what the government can and cannot do.

It’s as though Americans have taken a shiny new federal government out of a gaudily wrapped box and are trying to make it work without bothering to read the instruction manual.

Many people appear to be surprised that it takes time to build consensus and pass legislation. Almost everything else in our lives can be tailored to our tastes, giving us exactly what we want, and nothing we don’t want. Legislation isn’t like that. You’re going to have to compromise and get a bunch of stuff you don’t want.

There's an awful lot of that going around, even here on DU - ignorance as to what the Constitution says and how the government works, especially the legal and legislative processes. Why aren't we getting what we want right now? we whine. Did it start with the MTV culture? Is that how a game show host got elected president (or a movie actor before him)? I don't know, but political performances mixed with ignorance of government and a big hunk of celebrity worship (Oprah for president? Really?) have gotten us into a bad mess.

[True Dough]

6. History has shown us

many cultures and societies turn on each other. Some inflection point, some wedge sparking an "us" and "them" mentality and then vilifying people on the other side.

As many people have theorized, the rise of right-wing radio/Rupert Murdoch is largely to blame in this instance. I believe that to be the case. People of the ilk of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carlson have repeatedly attacked democratic ideals, tolerance and compassion, any concept of socialism, etc. They've characterized Dems as weak, immoral, soft on crime, and so on.

It's been a major factor in dividing the country, IMO.

[Oneironaut]

7. I believe lots of people unintentionally (or intentionally) hold Illiberal and Authoritarian views

of what governing should be. Lots of people believe that the President should have so much power that they essentially become a King. That, or, “It’s ok for my side o accumulate power because the other side is (Evil / Nazis / Literally Hitler).

Everyone essentially just speaks in hyperbole now. This is pushing extremist ideas to the mainstream and normalizing them. That’s why we got someone like Trump.

[blm]

8. GOP spent the 80s buying up all available broadcast radio

all over the country while eliminating the Fairness Doctrine, but, Geraghty wants to blame MTV in 1992? Not the spread of pro-fascist, anti-democracy talk-radio in the 80s and 90s?

MTV, not pro-fascist, anti-democracy Moonie News or Murdoch?

WHAT A PILE OF HORSESHYT!

[sinkingfeeling]

14. That's not what the article is about. He's saying that

we've turned politics into a ' celebrity cult'. it's now performative or entertainment art, instead of a serious understanding of how democracy and government works.

[blm]

16. I get that, sink, but his jump off point

is 1992 for propaganda purposes. The grooming of audiences to accept RightWing talkingheads and bombastic pols as legitimate political voices and celebrities started more than a decade before Rock the Vote.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. I understand your point about the 1980s, but I think he's trying to say

we started making 'stars' out of politicians with Bill playing the sax and being on MTV. Look at those who follow TFG.

[blm]

21. A typical RW reach to blame the left.

You’d have to believe Reagan’s election and the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine were of no consequence; as well as the dominant force of RightWing corporate talk radio.

[blm]

9. Geraghty is a GOP propagandist. This is left blaming horseshyt.

[twodogsbarking]

11. The internet was supposed to make people smarter.

What it did was show how people can be manipulated; usually without noticing.

[global1]

15. I Think Some Of The Blame Belongs To The Rise Of Cable News Shows.....

Politicians used to be just that - politicians. They did their job and most people just went along with them. Americans did their civic duty and voted when elections came up but still most politicians just blended in with the background and didn't stand out like they do today.

Then came 'cable news shows' and they made celebrities out of the politicians.

The politicians began playing to the media - doing everything they could to rise to a celebrity status.

Americans began to worship some politicians over others and the politicians began to compete with each other for air time - to get their mug on TV - and to get some notoriety by making some statement that was picked up and amplified by the media.

I joked at that time and said that some bubble gum company should start selling 'politician trading cards'. Lo and behold - look what TFG just foisted on the American Public. (and guess what - people bought them).

So now every politician that bursts onto the scene - has to do something or say something that brings them notoriety - that gets them 'air time'. That gets them a spot on the daytime talk shows and jokes about them as well as appearances on 'late night TV'.

Yes - IMHO - politicians have become 'celebrities/stars' that people follow and worship.

TFG capitalized on this trend with his 'appentice' show and he knew how to use it to get him into the WH.

Now we're kind of stuck with this 'political stardom syndrome' and we become glued to the TV to watch 15 votes to elect a SOTH.

I'm guilty of this - and I'm sure many of you that are reading this are as well.

In fact - I actually miss the 'McCarthy Humiliation Votes' - since he gave away his soul to get the Speaker's job.

Now I guess we'll just have to watch how the George Santos story plays out. He's our new political celebrity. He's figured out a way to 'out-lie' Tr**p. He's burst on to the scene and got everyone talking about him - from the morning shows - daytime talk shows - and the late night shows.

One picture that haunts me from the other nights 15th vote and coronation of McCarthy is the picture of 'Gaetz, Boebert and Santos' sitting next to each other - Gaetz and Boebert with frowns on their face - and Santos yawning as the listened to McCarthy drone on and take bows.

It's going to be a fun two years till 2024 - won't it? A lot of time for the 'cable news shows' and the MSM to give us some new celebrities to worship.

[GenThePerservering]

17. No, it wasn't MTV

"Rock the Vote" was engagement, when the real story is manipulation. Don't confuse the two - it's what the Right Wing does consistently.

[blm]

19. No doubt about it. Pure RW spin.

[Aristus]

18. I think "Rock The Vote" was well-meant.

MTV's real sin in the year 1992 was "The Real World". While not the first "reality" TV series, it did seem to presage the reality TV obsession of the early 2000's. It had all the hallmarks we would come to see later, with deeper and deeper layers of squalor and vileness; manufactured drama, everyone shouting and nobody listening, absurdly over-the-top accusations (The black guy, whose name I forget, getting into an argument with one of the other cast members, shouting that black people aren't racist, because they're the targets of racism, I guess?)

I only watched because of the cute Southern girl, then gave up on the rest of the entire series as an exercise in profitable, ratings-grabbing awfulness.

[scarletlib]

22. I blame Rupert Murdoch and his news organizations especially Fox News.

I blame Rush Limbaugh and his nationwide hate radio show. I blame Newt Gingrich and the Republican Party for adapting and using hate and slander language to defame those who opposed their views.
I blame Nixon and Reagan for bringing in Southern white supremacy into their party to win. I blame the same party for allying with White Conservative Evanglicals (white supremacy racists) into their party to win votes.

I blame Democrats for being too late to fight back.

I blame lots of things but not Rock the Vote. Everyone needs to be encouraged to vote and all citizens need to be aware of government and political policies.