politics as an artifact ...

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Another way in which politics has become an artifact in the technological age is that the more "electable" political candidates become, the more they are caricatures of the human beings they would otherwise have been.

The same expertise, the same sort of mindset or "world view" which devotes "heart and soul" one day to creating a need in consumers' minds for brightly packaged boxes of a certain chemical compound "guaranteed" to whiten
... is hired of another day to likewise package - and create a need for (sell) - a human being as an "electable" candidate for "public office"

That "candidate" is no more than another commodity any political consumer can select (and purchase) from a virtual supermarket shelf.

There is no more place for meaningful issues in a "political campaign" (a technological war waged primarily through television) because what is required for a successful "campaign" is to keep viewer's attention, which is accomplished through technical tricks - providing what is unexpected, which is why so-called "attack ads" are more effective in getting votes.

Any focus on actual issues is boring content, just the same as any other television content - none of which makes "good television" (a producer's term).


Within the limitations of the technology of television itself, "political debate" has a level of relevance or status equal with the soap opera, the sit-com, or late-night comedy or a sci-fi serial: All are "filler" to keep viewers watching - until the next commercial.


It seems to follow that ANY "candidate" for public office, once elected through this "modern" process, can have no real surety WHY he or she is IN office, because the actual needs of the country, and of The People, or the world, are never a focus within the process of "being elected" or reelected.

Even when someone running for office HAS or feels some mission to serve the public at the beginning of a campaign, that mission or purpose is extremely difficult to keep in one's "mind's eye" in the face of the technical business of defeating an opponent.

The extraordinary individual who CAN maintain such devotion to "mission" must nevertheless negotiate the limitations of "appearances" (image) through television, without which that person has no chance of defeating opposing candidates who ARE using "televised appearances" - which means the successful candidate must raise enough MONEY to PAY for the "appearances" (air time), and that money is not received freely - people or groups do not just give a candidate money because they are "good people"

So whatever is a candidate's "original mission" it has been much softened up by the time an election is won.

Last time your car was in a wreck, it was similarly "softened up" was it not ?

Remember how it looked then compared to when you saw it in the "showroom" ... or on TV ?

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