Have you noticed more and more politicians broadcasting their visits to the dentist or live-streaming themselves cooking their favorite Instant Pot mac-and-cheese recipe or posting footage of themselves chugging beer in their kitchen? You're not alone.
Politicians who wanted to seem authentic used to have it much easier.
As Daniel Boorstin outlined in his 1962 book, The Image, as far back as FDR, politicians used staged press conferences and calculated leaks to enlist the press and the public in efforts to create "Pseudo-events" designed to cast the politician in the most flattering light.
Unlike older efforts at image management success or failure is not determined by public opinion or by one's political critics; it's in the hands of the politician's followers, who increasingly behave less like responsible citizens and more like fans.
In Horton and Wohl's words: "The standard technique is not to make the private life an absolute secret-for the interest of the audience cannot be ignored-but to create an acceptable facade of private life as well, a more or less contrived private image of the life behind the contrived public image." The para-social politician is encouraging those interested in him to become the fan of a celebrity, rather than the constituent of an elected official.
In an age of pseudo-intimacy, the politicians fear being loved too little.
At a time when the majority of people get their news and information online, we need politicians who act less like Instagram celebrities and more like traditional public servants.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-age-of-the-hyper-authentic-para-social-pseudo-celebrity-politician/
Politicians who wanted to seem authentic used to have it much easier.
As Daniel Boorstin outlined in his 1962 book, The Image, as far back as FDR, politicians used staged press conferences and calculated leaks to enlist the press and the public in efforts to create "Pseudo-events" designed to cast the politician in the most flattering light.
Unlike older efforts at image management success or failure is not determined by public opinion or by one's political critics; it's in the hands of the politician's followers, who increasingly behave less like responsible citizens and more like fans.
In Horton and Wohl's words: "The standard technique is not to make the private life an absolute secret-for the interest of the audience cannot be ignored-but to create an acceptable facade of private life as well, a more or less contrived private image of the life behind the contrived public image." The para-social politician is encouraging those interested in him to become the fan of a celebrity, rather than the constituent of an elected official.
In an age of pseudo-intimacy, the politicians fear being loved too little.
At a time when the majority of people get their news and information online, we need politicians who act less like Instagram celebrities and more like traditional public servants.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-age-of-the-hyper-authentic-para-social-pseudo-celebrity-politician/
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