By Krista Poch
Question: what do MTV and political ads have in common?
Answer: watching either of them will inevitably make you dumber.
Am I really supposed believe that the price of oil is wholly attributable to Bob Schaffer or Mark Udall? Or that being too popular or too old suffices reason not to vote for Obama or McCain? Negative ads, for all our complaints, persist because they are, apparently, convincing and effective. But it’s not negativity that I am concerned with so much as the dumbing down of the electorate.
Politics has been in the least common denominator business for as long as I can remember and can only blame itself for the subsequent deterioration of public political discourse. I grant that it is hard to convey any educational and meaningful message in a 30-second time slot, and - the bigger issue - that votes should not hinge upon TV advertisements. But, just as world peace is really not conceivable without the cooperation of grudge-holders throughout the world, constructive political debate will not be had without either convincing prime time TV viewers across the country to mute those spans of time in between their favorite shows or convincing politicians to cease and desist in their sophomoric, rumor-generating and accusative campaigns. Neither is realistic; instead, we have to work with what we’re given.
Like everyone else afraid of missing out on the next Super Bowl-caliber ad, I leave the sound on. I estimate that approximately 80 percent of the ads I’ve seen this political cycle mention the cost of oil and, of course, all blame the price of that oil on the opponent. Really, unless you’re the head of OPEC, your ability to single-handedly manipulate the oil markets is severely handicapped by the eternal laws of supply and demand. But no politician blames you, or China, or any other large consumer of oil for that price. That might jeopardize a vote and/or require voters to think about the bigger picture, pointing them to the conclusion that you, the would-be politician, don’t actually harbor as much power as your ads would like to portray. The same holds true for any other contemporary contentious issue. Iraq, home prices and quality public eduation aren’t in the hands of any one politician. But the ads continue to claim that the exact opposite is true: that there is only one bogeyman to blame for all the ills of your personal, community, and national life. And, additionally, that none are your fault and that electing a singular politician can fix them all.
Because we seem to have the attention spans of canaries, this strategy seems to work. We don’t remember that we’ve heard the same promises before, and that the same promises have been broken time and time again. We forget that politicians, like the rest of us, are only powerful in numbers. The idea of electing a particular person to office never guaranteed that they would produce some outcome on the one issue that was most important to you. Historically, the idea behind electing someone lay with the idea that they held your trust and could be counted on to act in accordance with a set of beliefs important to you. Now, malleability and back-peddling is the norm - anything to score a photo op or sound bite. Politicians and constituents alike have forgotten that, like any relationship with any other human being, political relationships can only be built upon trust. But somewhere between the ads and the promises we have become mesmerized by the politician’s power, good looks, and money, forgetting the importance of that trust, and forgetting that trophy wives aren’t always the best candidates for long-term commitment.
So the next time Barack promises zero emissions within seventeen days of becoming president, ask yourself, “Is this someone I can imagine spending the rest of my political life with?” Or better yet, “Does this claim seem reasonable?”
Krista Poch is a resident of Denver.
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