Fallen Into Knowledge

Tonight I watched Al Gore’s, “An Inconvenant Truth,” and after watching it I declare that you should also watch it. His presentation is convincing and interesting: I can see why people have reacted favorably to the movie, and the version of Al Gore contained within. This, certainly, is not the same person that we saw as a politician.
Perhaps.
As I was watching, I couldn’t help wondering if this version lf Al Gore wasn’t merely absent from the political arena, but, rather, wasn’t welcome. Let me explain. I wonder if the big story with this film isn’t the global warming, but the structure of political speech in America. Gore spends an hour making his case, for global warming/climate change, in that hour he can summon evidence, make connections, and develop a vocabulary appropriate to his argument. When, in the course of a politician’s public career in America, does that happen? The most extensive speeches that a politician gives, for the general public, usually happen in television shows such as “Meet the Press;” and, even then, the politician doesn’t guide the conversation, the host does. No, Politicians have to talk in sound bytes.
What scares me is that the person that insists on a careful consideration of topics, and who has a nuanced position on those topics, will - by the nature of the political arena - appear less worthy than the master of the sound byte. Complicated problems require a nuanced approach; such an approach is discouraged by the very structure of political speech in America.
One might argue that political speech has always been artificial and sound-byte-ish. Fair enough: to some extent that is probably right. The politician has never had the verbal space as the philosopher. But while sloganeering has always played some role in political speech, it seems that now sloganeering has replaced all other forms of speech in politics.
The question is, as we start the run up to the next presidential election: can we or will we make space for the candidates to present a nuanced argument in favor of their positions? Are we satisfied with the slogans? What do you think?

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 21st, 2007 at 11:53 pm and is filed under Grammar Patrol, Political Musing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.