(Photo by S.A. 4.0, 2016)
Andrew Marantz, writing in The New Yorker, talks about the notion of reality vs. "pseudo moments" as a way to explain our obsession with celebrity and the current electoral circus in the United States. The idea of pseudo moments was first mentioned in 1962 by
historian Daniel J. Boorstin, who opined that popular culture was eclipsing reality in the minds of the general population. Catchy soundbites had begun to trump real policies and today, jingoism and extreme nationalism, are literally "Trump-ing" traditional politics.
The hijacking of the Republican Party in the U.S. is just the latest case of this phenomenon where Donald Trump's pledge to "Make America Great Again" is resonating with disenfranchised Americans who are looking to blame their stagnated lives on anything but the corporate greed that Trump so ironically embodies. And when reality doesn't line up with Trump's vision for the future, he invents a new narrative that he injects into the echo chamber until they are repeated so often that they become taken as facts.
If the polls go against Trump the election is "rigged." If women come forward with allegations of sexual assault, the liberal media is "dishonest" and secretly working with Hillary Clinton. It doesn't seem to matter that there is little or no evidence to back up any of his accusations, Trump's supporters will believe any flimsy excuse to keep the fading American dream alive.
For her part, Hillary Clinton has been trying to create her own pseudo moments by introducing catchphrases such as "Trumped up trickle down economics," but none of her efforts to connect with voters through clever verbiage have caught on. Likely, this is more a result of Trump's ability to capture headlines, good or bad, in every news cycle of this prolonged campaign for the presidency.
historian Daniel J. Boorstin, who opined that popular culture was eclipsing reality in the minds of the general population. Catchy soundbites had begun to trump real policies and today, jingoism and extreme nationalism, are literally "Trump-ing" traditional politics.
The hijacking of the Republican Party in the U.S. is just the latest case of this phenomenon where Donald Trump's pledge to "Make America Great Again" is resonating with disenfranchised Americans who are looking to blame their stagnated lives on anything but the corporate greed that Trump so ironically embodies. And when reality doesn't line up with Trump's vision for the future, he invents a new narrative that he injects into the echo chamber until they are repeated so often that they become taken as facts.
If the polls go against Trump the election is "rigged." If women come forward with allegations of sexual assault, the liberal media is "dishonest" and secretly working with Hillary Clinton. It doesn't seem to matter that there is little or no evidence to back up any of his accusations, Trump's supporters will believe any flimsy excuse to keep the fading American dream alive.
For her part, Hillary Clinton has been trying to create her own pseudo moments by introducing catchphrases such as "Trumped up trickle down economics," but none of her efforts to connect with voters through clever verbiage have caught on. Likely, this is more a result of Trump's ability to capture headlines, good or bad, in every news cycle of this prolonged campaign for the presidency.