INTRODUCTION
Over the last year and a half we have had to bear witness to one of the most contentious elections in history. The divisive political climate is painfully apparent in the public reaction many people have to the main two party candidates. It is not that these candidates are well liked, it is more so that those who are going to vote, hate the other candidate much more. So, many of the votes that each candidate are going to get are not from supporters, but from those against to their opposition.
There are those that
believe that Donald Trump is a racist hate spewing demagogue and others who see
Hillary Clinton as a hawkish elitist prison-bound conspirator. And no Amount of
“facts” will stand in the way of that belief. The understanding that objective facts, and the perception of the facts, are two different things is the basis of Social Constructionism
Politics, and especially winning an election, is based on how well a candidate understands that reality is a social construction. A politician who understands this social
process (of knowledge production) well, can tap into the emotions of the
populace, stoke their flames of fear and ride the tide of tyranny right into
office. Such a politician understands
that with a lack of an agreement of what is considered true, belief can TRUMP facts. Yet, it seems that daily we are constantly surprised by the depths to which this election has sunk.
The road to Nov 8th 2016 has been fraught with so scandals, conspiracies, xenophobia and sexual violence culminating in the threat of armed physical violence at the polls and a non peaceful transfer of power, that many people are asking "How did we get here.". The sea of analysis that has flowed forth from that question one drop in this vast ocean, that has gotten little attention is the influence of reality television and the way Donald Trump has run his campaign .
Donald Trump is "a real estate magnate with no experience in politics whose highly unconventional campaign bears a resemblance to the reality TV shows in which he has starred"POLITICS AND THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The Power of the Media
Since the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon, we have understood the power of the non news media to influence elections. This was the first time that a candidate for office had to look "positively presidential". In fact, this has changed the political landscape so much, that many of our previously elected leaders, would not be elected today. The navigation of the multi-media landscape would have claimed even our most competent former leaders. To be sure, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt would be highly scrutinized for their look and demeanor. To put it frankly, today we wouldn't elect an man in a wheelchair.
It is easy, using historical hindsight, to hyperbolically say that, before the media's importance in presidential elections, our elected leaders were selected more on the content of their platform, rather than who they were as a person. To do so, would not only be an example of revisionist history, but it would also ignore the role embedded, structural, institutional and covert inequality had during those elections. Instead, the culture that we are in, cultivates the presidential candidates that we have, and it is that culture which has allowed these two candidates have risen in popularity and revulsion, which they have done against the backdrop of a relentless media landscape.
The Role of Social Media
Over
the last two presidential elections the use of social media has become of
greater and greater importance especially among younger voters. According to
the American Press Institute, most millennials 18-35 gain most of their
political news from online sources.
While most millennials have a daily interaction with Facebook, Youtube, Instagram,
Twitter, Pintrest, Tumblr and Reddit. It is the Younger millennials (under the
age of 30) that have a more consistent media presence (daily usage) with
diverse social media platforms.
Additionally, the use of Facebook as a
primary social media source tends to skew toward older millennials whereas
Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Reddit skew younger.
Thirdly,
and most interestingly to the subject of political campaigns, is the way that Millennials
engage with their social media. Younger millennials use Facebook only as a
social tool between friends, choosing instead to use twitter to garner the
trending information and political news. Older millennials on the other hand
use Facebook for both of these reasons.[1]
 |
| This is a small sample of some of the sexist tweets Trump uses to gain followers |
This reinvention of politics as entertainment has caused Donald Trump to become a presidential candidate. Over the last 10 years the top television genre has been reality TV. The majority of people, before this election, have known only the Trump brand and the carefully crafted image of Donald Trump from his show The Apprentice (and its many spin-offs ) for the last 16 years. It is this image of Trump that many of his followers have embraced so completely, that regardless of the failed business ventures, bankruptcy and questionable business practices they still think he is a "great businessman" and continue to deify him .
A small, wiry man...eyes afire, called out to all within earshot [during a Trump Rally], “To be in the presence of such a man! To be in the presence of such a man.” There seemed in this man’s call, a note of reverence, even ecstasy (Hochschild 2016:224).Unfortunately, this is nothing new in politics, we have done this with other candidates as well, We've done this with Ronald Reagan, presenting the image of the tough as nails cowboy, Arnold Schwarzenegger embracing the image of The Terminator, and now Donald Trump. All of these are examples of the disconnect we have between the image of a person and the person themselves (remember social constructionism) which has allowed a revolving door between Hollywood and Politics. However, it also cannot be overstated that the [motion] pictures to politics pipeline usually only happens to affluent white men.
THE PANDERING TO ANGRY WHITE MEN
According to the graph above, the typical Trump supporter is a older white man with little education. This is also the same group that has tends to support the 2nd amendment and have the most guns. The popularity of Donald Trump can be explained by his ability to tap into the zeitgeist of blue collar white male fear,
racism and xenophobia that has bubbled up to the surface after the election of
Barrack Obama.
White privilege is
invisible to most white people. They believe that their experience,
opportunities and access to resources are in line with everyone else,
regardless of the truth. This is what is known as the normalization of whiteness
(or White Hegemony). Thus, when social movements, the passing of laws and the
election of the first “black” president not only makes their whiteness visible,
but begins to strip away the privilege they didn’t believe that they had; it
creates a backlash that Donald Trump is capitalizing on; which makes him an opportunist. In fact, many poorer white people have a lot in common with poorer people of color, even if their racial privilege still divides them.
As this great SNL clip emphasizes
Rape Culture in Politics
The Above clip of Donald Trump clearly illustrates Donald Trump as the embodiment of the rape culture. This was also the inciting incident that has caused his campaign to implode. Yet, it was only AFTER these comments were in the public eye (through the media) that anyone cared. From the first speech declaring his candidacy, Donald Trump, has embodied and fueled racial hatred (see clip at the beginning of this section) and Donald Trump's long history with sexism has been well documented. The question is: Why now? The answer has everything to do with the power of the media and white men.
A lot of the aforementioned rape culture is tied to masculinity. It is a form of toxic masculinity that sees women as sexual objects and normalized sexual assault to the point that Trump, like many other men before and after him, feels comfortable with this form of hate speech. However, the social context can not be overlooked here. Trump is in an isolated space that is populated with mostly men. It is this space, what Sociologist Michael Kimmel calls "Guyland", that contributes to the perpetuation of the rape culture and the [street] harassment of women. Kimmel shows that this is not just a isolated problem with one political candidate. Trump is just the most recent public expression of a poisonous patriarchal practices that most men have to navigate.
Men having to navigate such a "bro culture", is part of the reason there was a lack of outrage against Trump. His racist comments and foreign policy, along with his sexist comments against many women before this, did not have the same political fall out because it didn't prompt white men to get offended. Simply put: the outrage and backlash Trump experienced is because his behavior went from the "protected social space" of Guyland to the Public. Once the comments were in the public, he offended white women; and since all white women are in an intimate relationship with a white man, whether that be a father, brother, partner etc., Trumps comments have aggravated the paternalistic protectionism of white women by white men.
Thus, it is not necessarily that our culture now, all of sudden, see women as people. It is more so that Trump was attacking what a lot of conservative white men believe is their property. This is illustrated by the typical White Male response to Trumps comments citing themselves as a husband, father, brother etc. By doing this they are also illuminating the cultural perception that IN ORDER FOR A WOMAN TO BE CONSIDERED A PERSON, SHE HAS TO INDIVIDUALLY BE RELATED TO EVERY WHITE MAN!
As Samantha Bee explains
CONCLUSION
The current candidates both represent ideologies that clearly embody America. From our unwillingness to own up to our history of genocide, racism, and sexism, while still being racist and sexist through the emulsification of hate into a new subtler aberration; to our sense of optimism, progress, support and unity that allows for opportunities and multiculturalism, these candidates are the manufactured mirror of our culture, and regardless of who wins, this cultural duality of the United States is now clearly visible to all.
The issue now is what do we do with this critical lens we have had over our country in the last year and a half? What will we do on Nov 9th? Will we remember this election forever, or like a lot of things, will our memory get fuzzy with age, time and distance? Could we look back on this time and say "It wasn't that bad?" like we do, so many other historical events? Perhaps. It is far more likely that happens than that which we need. We need to remember, we need to understand and embrace these horrors; to hold them tight until it is burned in our memories. Then we can say never again... then we can have progress.
