There has been a fair amount of talk recently about the deterioration of political discourse, or, to in simple terms, politicians talking bullshit.
The results are clear to see. Donald Trump as a prospective US president, the UK voting to leave the EU, the rise of UKIP, the Tories still in power.
The question is where did it start, and who is responsible?
Much as I would like to lay it at the door of those low down untrustworthy politicians, I don’t think that is the case. The blame lies with the media, and how it has evolved from a means of providing a chargeable information provision service whilst presenting a debate, to providing a means income expansion whilst maintaining attention.
Newspapers, certainly in the UK, have always been split politically, but at least there was a cross-section of information available, with the opinions being held to account by a broadcast media that at least for a while appeared to have a remit for ‘truth’.
And then came the enormous expansion of commercial television, and the internet. I have no intention of criticising the vast array of programming available, because I have found over the years a large amount of quality entertainment, and informed discussion. I am also not going to criticise the internet. It has opened up vast amounts of information, and connections, for a vast number of people.
However, What both these developments did was to attach a financial imperative to public service broadcasting, and monetize information.
The other side of the ‘information’ explosion was the apparent assumption that, over time, our attention spans have reduced. And, as that was how the world was presented to us, more and more that was how we expected it to be.
Instead of a half hour discussion, with time for exposition and explanation, we were served, and started to demand, instant answers, sound bite information. And it all began to be self-fulfilling. Even on what should be serious arenas for discourse, such as The Today Programme on Radio 4 (3 hours) or Question Time on BBC1 (1 hour), if the answer is not forthcoming in a sentence, then interruptions prevail, from all sides, even the chair.
And it spreads ever wider. Campaigns have turned from proposal to propaganda, where the truth is a poor second to what looks good on a poster, or the side of a bus. And unfortunately some political operators realised sooner the others the direction the media was moving, and adapted accordingly.
Which is how we end up where we are today. With mal-informed decisions being made on the basis of slithers of half-truths and misdirection. And a spreading disillusionment with the political process, and politicians, as a whole.
We laugh at the absurdity of so much that is stated as fact, but the sad truth is that it has created a move divided, divisive and uncaring, dangerous world.
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