Winning by Insulting - The New Normal?

Frustration with political leadership both domestically and abroad has brought a seemingly more intense anger into the dialogue from those who want to direct the course of our collective future. At its extreme, it's a call for change for change's sake. "Forget the details, don't analyze the impacts of what is said, just throw them all out and start over," seems to be the thinking of those seeking support. 

This has been flowing on the airwaves from leaders across the political spectrum.  Anger against virtually everything wins the day. What is most unique to this season’s politics is the more polarizing and personal form of the discourse. Name calling, personal insults, mocking appearance, and more have led the day’s lead news stories in ways I can never remember before.

I recall fondly the town hall meeting in 2008 when Senator John McCain interrupted an attendee who was maligning President Obama and incorrectly calling him an Arab in a manner considered derogatory and prejudiced at its core.  No matter your view of Senator McCain’s politics, he showed a level of statesmanship and civility by clarifying to all that this President was a decent man but one whom he disagreed with on policy decisions.

For me, that town hall meeting highlighted the value of decency and civility in our elected leadership. Had such a comment been made at a political event today, I am not sure the response would have risen to the level of integrity that Senator McCain showed that day.

Personal attacks are not unique in our country’s political history.  All one has to do is see the play Hamilton to be reminded as to how personal and aggressive the political discourse was when this nation was formed. As we all know, one famous political feud ended in a duel to the death. 

I think what makes today’s environment more distasteful is the 24/7 live media coverage of this campaign and the heightened attention on the personalities, with the spotlight on whoever makes the most outrageous statement. All of us have to constantly endure the coverage of hands, to hair, bathroom breaks, orange tones, gestures that mimic, and more, on a daily, or even hourly, basis. 

I'm not sure the answer, but I find myself more and more appreciating the time from my youth when networks would simply dedicate a fixed amount of time to covering the candidates and we did not have to watch the “reality TV” approach to electing our officials. 

Yet, despite the highly negative way in which most of the public claims to view our leaders, they still tune in, which only encourages the media to feed us more of what feels more like waterboarding than news or even entertainment.

Time to turn the channel.