I'm so disappointed with the way journalists have normalized Trump's campaign as though he had a serious desire to govern. He does not. Vance is the greatest danger here. If Trump's elected, chances are good we'll end up with a President Vance within the next five years. He's soulless.
Couldn’t agree more. I found it so hard to watch for all the reasons you highlighted. I was also horrified by how well Vance cosplayed a reasonable guy ready to debate in a civil way. It did feel like even Walz was convinced and I hated that even though I know it’s because he’s a genuinely decent person. And it’s infuriating to see the way the press is covering it, but I’m infuriated by the press every day. They’ve helped normalize people and situations that are as far from normal as we can get here on planet earth.
Thank you!! (And also for the article, which I’ll read today.) I was buoyed briefly last night watching the Cheney/Harris rally. Then this morning I’m hearing how men love Vance and are raising Trump’s chances because of him. And I see that Rona has forwarded an article about how women are falling in love with him. He is, as you say, the one we should be watching. But the media hasn’t gotten the memo yet. It took them so long to realize Trump is deranged, now they can’t get off that story. And it doesn’t even register with people anymore.
I HATE how close this race is. I hold my head at least once a day. I’m doing everything I can think of, donating, phone banking, postcards, and obviously writing and using my platforms, but I just smh. It’s SO hard to understand how there can be so much support for such a reprehensible ticket. And unfathomable so many people are ready to vote against their own interests. Again! Thanks again for all the work you’re doing, Susan.
You nailed it. If a debate is not fact-checked in real time, Democrats should skip it and opt for a Town Hall instead. When lies go unchallenged, they are legitimized.
I think you are the best writer! I am just starting to follow you fairly consistently. In this "The Salesman and the Tickster" you are able to say things I have only thought about but without the right words to express myself. You are brilliant. But I have tried to share this article on FaceBook and three times they have removed it! I think that means you are really good. ;o) It disturbes me to be censored like this when what you have to say ought to be Shared with my FB friends! The censors really don't say why they removed my post of this "Share." But it has really pissed me off, and at 91 years of age, I have to be careful how pissed off I get. Thank you for your work. I admire it and you immensely.
Marlene, this is the first time I’ve discovered you outside your PhD presence and scholarly articles which I quoted heavily on my own dissertation (on the self guided writing processes of women with the history of mother-daughter conflict). I understand what you were saying about needing to be careful about getting too pissed off. I’m not 91 yet but moving in that direction, and yes, I really applaud Susan for taking off the mask. You are doing it, Susan.
Thank so much for your wonderful words about my writing!! They mean a lot to me. It disturbed me, though, that you couldn’t share this piece. I know they have a limit of my sharing a link of mine—which is irritating enough—but I’ve never heard of anyone else being unable to share. Are we friends on substack? If not we should be!! If we are, I can send the piece directly to you for you to share.
Try posting the blurb I posted without the link to the piece, share that, and then after it’s shared, put the link in the comments. I think that will get around whatever issue they have (They are saying it’s “spam”—which is crazy.)
I am definitely low tech and high maintenance as my daughter suggested, so I don't know if we are friends on FB or not. I would like to be if it would be ok with you. I would love to bypass FB anytime I can. I have several very intelligent FB friends who would very much agree with me about your writing and would like to follow you
It would be great if you could just recommend that they subscribe to BordoLines. They can do it for free. All my posts will go to their emails, and also will be on the home page. Susanbordo.substack.com/subscribe. And yes, I’ll send a friend request to you on FB too.
Thank you. I welcome any opportunity to learn, especially about things of ultimate meaning. I have already learned a lot from you and look forward to more.
Another excellent analysis; thank you. So now we have TWO showmen - the Circus Barker and the Trickster. Watching the debate (I checked out after one hour) was unnerving to me because of Vance's performance as "reasonable human being." I could feel what he was doing viscerally, and feeling anxious about all the people who would buy it, just as they continue to buy T*mp's fake strong-man who will make you feel more secure. Imagine him as a relative, or acquaintance. Do you feel comforted by them. When they talk insanely, tangentially, and repetitively, do you feel you want to hang out with them again in any way? I'm struck more and more lately by the unreality of images (something of course Dr. Bordo has written and warned about for decades). For distraction (chose it of my own free will) I binged on Million Dollar Listing, Los Angeles. All the women were emaciated, with very, very long blonde hair and pounds of make-up. When did THAT Barbie archetype take over? The stilletto heels! The midriff-showing! The cosmetic surgery? Well, it's one thing to have a striking female sell your house (complicated enough in its sub-texts), it's another to have a pair of evil androids selling out your country.
Dr. Bordo here (that would be sister Susan to you) liking your asking people to imagine Trump or Vance at your dinner table. The blonde realtor androids would be pretty creepy too. But Harris and Walz would be so much fun!! (Especially if you and Scott were there too.) What would I make? Hmmm….Matzoh ball soup and macaroni and cheese?
You nailed it. As long as traditional media "normalize" the insidious threats of Trumpist oppression and its minions, then they continue to breath life into these noxious characters. In a rational world Harris/Walz would be ahead in the polls by 95% to ca. 5%, but I suppose I expect too much of this species.
Thanks Christopher! This morning, as I’m hearing about how much white men are finding a new role model in Vance (God help us!!) I’m fast losing the tiny glow I was feeling from the Cheney/Harris rally and Bruce Springsteen’s endorsement video.
Agreed, Susan. Vance is an alarmingly clever sociopath, hollow at the core and a master of the slick facade. With the help of the press, his performance will likely persuade wavering Trump voters to get in line. While browsing Substack’s recommended Culture posts (enter at your own risk), I found this from a stacker with a huge following:https://open.substack.com/pub/jessicareedkraus/p/women-across-america-just-fell-in?r=ngwcq&utm_medium=ios
Susan, As usual, you nailed it! I kept gagging during the debate as I watched the slime ooze out Vance's mouth. And I screamed at the media for their incompetence in calling out a con artist as he rolled his lies across the stage. My concern is yours: What if something happens to Trump and J.D. assumes the role of commander-in-chief. Is this what the Heritage Foundation is planning? Has this been the plan all along? It's terrifying and creepy.
Thank you Jane! I have started to wonder if this has been the plan all along. Have Trump’s deplorable MAGAs get him back in the White House and then start working in earnest on the Vance takeover. It is, as you say, terrifying.
I don’t think the Bloated Yam (love this!) is going to make it to 2028. He’s looking pretty decrepit in recent appearances. But with Vance in the wings, that’s not the cause for joy that I once thought it would be.
Susan, I tried to share it on FB, but FB removed it immediately and told me I had violated community standards by posting it. I asked them to review the decision. We'll see. It shocked me and made me think that your name signaled something nefarious to "them." A strong feminist for half a century, I also find myself thinking that Big Brother is watching me for a misstep. Silencing outspoken women is a fundamental patriarchal tenet. Ugh! Thank you for all you persist in doing!
M.Keith: Other people have been having the exact same problem, and I was told that there a new guy there who was one of the authors of Project 2025 (forgot the name but I’ll look it up for you after I finish this note) who is removing/restricting left-leaning content. Of course, I’m furious. But for the time being, please just share and post a blurb of some innocuous sort without a link (I’ll suggest one below) but tag me on it. When I see the tag I’ll add a link to the piece to the comments. Thanks for your efforts!! (Feel free to write your own blurb or pull out and post a section of the piece that doesn’t scream: “Lefty Feminist!!!”
“This wasn’t civility. It was one man duplicitously and cynically performing being reasonable and nice, and the other man—who truly is reasonable and nice—being (overly) generous. And perhaps Walz was also a bit surprised, and taken off guard. Understandable, I think. He was “debating” an artfully constructed android. Who managed not to malfunction until the very end. Thank goodness his gears finally did go off the rails.
The devil can wear a pleasing face. That’s how the trickster operates, too.”
FROM Susan Bordo’s LATEST STACK: “THE SALESMAN AND THE TRICKSTER”
Thanks for calling out corporate reporting for another blatant sanewashing. As you made clear, calmly and confidently lying to our faces shouldn't be applauded. If you wouldn't want that quality in an oncologist, why would you celebrate it in someone who could potentially make executive decisions for your nation?
I couldn't agree with you more, Susan. Vance is far more dangerous than Trump, and he's received the reality-tv edit of his dreams with the VP debate from journalists who should know better. The two moderators were hobbled from the start of the debate by the gutless policy of CBS News to have the candidates "fact-check" themselves. See the explicit connection I made to reality tv in my recent post about the debate: https://marthanichols.substack.com/p/who-gets-voted-off-the-island-first
For the moment, it looks like they are both surviving, but Vance has got himself a following—actually, two: young men who admire him (God help their generation of women) and young women who have crushes on him (who need even more help.) So he’s achieved what every reality-tv contestant desires most: not just those headlines that called him “smooth,” “polished,” etc but groupies. He’s become an influencer!!!
As far as the various predictable roles people get “assigned” and edited to embody on reality tv, the kicker here is that Vance wasn’t assigned the role of the one we’re supposed to hate, but the opposite. He was so “nice”—cordial, collegial, “bipartisan,” concerned (e.g. about Walz’s son seeing a school shooting.) It was a strategy they deliberately constructed to throw Walz off (talk about editing reality!) And it worked. Until the BiG REVEAL at the end, which didn’t dirty him for ordinary viewers the way the media mavens would like to think it did.
You’re right that those supposedly in charge of editing reality-tv characters - producers and, in this case, journalists - were taken in by Vance’s performance and gave him the “smart-nice” spin he was after. But in shows like Survivor, the most strategic players perform in this way, with an eye to how they’ll be edited - and the performance (or trickery, as you put it) is part of the appeal. A “villain edit” these days can be a strategic move, too, because part of what viewers appreciate is the performance.
So, is Vance an influencer? I think he wants to be, but I’m not quite convinced that he’s really roped in that many young groupies. Here’s where the reality-tv analogy breaks down, because it’s not just a vote off a fictitious island. The real consequence of his debate performance is that the press didn’t call out his manipulations in real-time. They were too taken in by Vance’s debating skills, as if the performance was all, to state what they are: a cover for inner ugliness and right-wing demagoguery. Or, for a political reporter like Maggie Haberman, it’s all a game of strategy on both sides, so we get endless yammering about horse races and polls and the results of strategic moves, which ultimately comes down to who wins the next round of Risk. But this time, whoever takes over the board is about as real as reality gets.
My worries about young voters center much more on those who will stay home from the polls as a protest against the Biden administration.
I have an idea. You may or may not know, but I used to teach a course on TV culture, which included a section on Reality TV—which I also wrote a bit about in my little TV book. Since you’ve gotten interested in the TV/politics connection, maybe we could collaborate on something? I really enjoy collaboration and I think we’d make a great combo!
Yes, I did know about your past course, and I’ve been following reality tv for awhile - I’ve been mulling over some of the issues with reality being shaped by AI in similar problematic ways, for instance. I think we could do a great collaboration about the shaping of political reality and manufactured authenticity - let’s talk 😉
Yep, AI image modification is one thing, and we’re already inundated with it (that’s why I spun my own silliness for Vance in my opening image). Beyond images, though, I think the more lasting challenge is with attitudes toward truth and accuracy. Many younger writers I work with are quite shocked to realize that it’s not ok to change timelines or cut events in a nonfiction story - they have been inculcated with a belief theat the higher “emotional truth” matters, and that anything you see online is a performance anyway. Reality TV has changed how we view the world and people’s motivations - so has an overly reductive approach to drag and image transformation in trans discourse (something the article points to) - and now the constant manipulations of AI are making fakery and “real” with scare quotes seem normal.
One consequence on the young political left: they’ve had far less direct contact with Holocaust survivors, and much direct testimony has not been digitized. So, the Holocaust is viewed virtually as less real or important, even if you believe it happened.
Excellent summary. My take: Vance is the lipstick on the pig.
That’s my husband’s summary too.
this pig needs eyeliner as well
I'm so disappointed with the way journalists have normalized Trump's campaign as though he had a serious desire to govern. He does not. Vance is the greatest danger here. If Trump's elected, chances are good we'll end up with a President Vance within the next five years. He's soulless.
And this morning, as I’m catching up with comments, I’m hearing that Trump is rising among men. Why? Because they like J.D. Vance. Very scary.
Yes, soulless. That's the right word. Thank you.
"President Jon@h Ryan"
Couldn’t agree more. I found it so hard to watch for all the reasons you highlighted. I was also horrified by how well Vance cosplayed a reasonable guy ready to debate in a civil way. It did feel like even Walz was convinced and I hated that even though I know it’s because he’s a genuinely decent person. And it’s infuriating to see the way the press is covering it, but I’m infuriated by the press every day. They’ve helped normalize people and situations that are as far from normal as we can get here on planet earth.
I was so relieved when Walz cornered him about the 2020 election. That was the knockout punch, but yikes it took a long time to get there. And you are spot on about this entire thing. I don’t know how long Trump will last as a frontman if they get in (please let them not win this thing), but Vance and Project 2025 IS the plan. He’s the one to be watching, but few people are getting the memo. Did you happen to see this Propublica piece? https://www.propublica.org/article/have-government-employees-mentioned-climate-change-voting-or-gender-identity-the-heritage-foundation-wants-to-know
Terrifying.
Thank you for the great work you’re doing, Susan. All we can do is shout it from the rooftops and hope people hear. And vote.
Thank you!! (And also for the article, which I’ll read today.) I was buoyed briefly last night watching the Cheney/Harris rally. Then this morning I’m hearing how men love Vance and are raising Trump’s chances because of him. And I see that Rona has forwarded an article about how women are falling in love with him. He is, as you say, the one we should be watching. But the media hasn’t gotten the memo yet. It took them so long to realize Trump is deranged, now they can’t get off that story. And it doesn’t even register with people anymore.
Don't listen to that shit. NONE of the men I know think Vance is worth the time of day.
And we vote.
I HATE how close this race is. I hold my head at least once a day. I’m doing everything I can think of, donating, phone banking, postcards, and obviously writing and using my platforms, but I just smh. It’s SO hard to understand how there can be so much support for such a reprehensible ticket. And unfathomable so many people are ready to vote against their own interests. Again! Thanks again for all the work you’re doing, Susan.
Likewise. Thorough and thoughtful letter. Thanks.
You nailed it. If a debate is not fact-checked in real time, Democrats should skip it and opt for a Town Hall instead. When lies go unchallenged, they are legitimized.
Yes. I hope Harris and Walz do some town halls. And she needs another major prime time speech. The hell with debates.
I think you are the best writer! I am just starting to follow you fairly consistently. In this "The Salesman and the Tickster" you are able to say things I have only thought about but without the right words to express myself. You are brilliant. But I have tried to share this article on FaceBook and three times they have removed it! I think that means you are really good. ;o) It disturbes me to be censored like this when what you have to say ought to be Shared with my FB friends! The censors really don't say why they removed my post of this "Share." But it has really pissed me off, and at 91 years of age, I have to be careful how pissed off I get. Thank you for your work. I admire it and you immensely.
Marlene, this is the first time I’ve discovered you outside your PhD presence and scholarly articles which I quoted heavily on my own dissertation (on the self guided writing processes of women with the history of mother-daughter conflict). I understand what you were saying about needing to be careful about getting too pissed off. I’m not 91 yet but moving in that direction, and yes, I really applaud Susan for taking off the mask. You are doing it, Susan.
Thank so much for your wonderful words about my writing!! They mean a lot to me. It disturbed me, though, that you couldn’t share this piece. I know they have a limit of my sharing a link of mine—which is irritating enough—but I’ve never heard of anyone else being unable to share. Are we friends on substack? If not we should be!! If we are, I can send the piece directly to you for you to share.
OK, I just got word from some Facebook friends who are having the same problem. I have no idea what’s going on.
Try posting the blurb I posted without the link to the piece, share that, and then after it’s shared, put the link in the comments. I think that will get around whatever issue they have (They are saying it’s “spam”—which is crazy.)
I am definitely low tech and high maintenance as my daughter suggested, so I don't know if we are friends on FB or not. I would like to be if it would be ok with you. I would love to bypass FB anytime I can. I have several very intelligent FB friends who would very much agree with me about your writing and would like to follow you
It would be great if you could just recommend that they subscribe to BordoLines. They can do it for free. All my posts will go to their emails, and also will be on the home page. Susanbordo.substack.com/subscribe. And yes, I’ll send a friend request to you on FB too.
Thank you. I welcome any opportunity to learn, especially about things of ultimate meaning. I have already learned a lot from you and look forward to more.
Please post your Facebook link. My search button doesn’t seem to be operating properly.
Another excellent analysis; thank you. So now we have TWO showmen - the Circus Barker and the Trickster. Watching the debate (I checked out after one hour) was unnerving to me because of Vance's performance as "reasonable human being." I could feel what he was doing viscerally, and feeling anxious about all the people who would buy it, just as they continue to buy T*mp's fake strong-man who will make you feel more secure. Imagine him as a relative, or acquaintance. Do you feel comforted by them. When they talk insanely, tangentially, and repetitively, do you feel you want to hang out with them again in any way? I'm struck more and more lately by the unreality of images (something of course Dr. Bordo has written and warned about for decades). For distraction (chose it of my own free will) I binged on Million Dollar Listing, Los Angeles. All the women were emaciated, with very, very long blonde hair and pounds of make-up. When did THAT Barbie archetype take over? The stilletto heels! The midriff-showing! The cosmetic surgery? Well, it's one thing to have a striking female sell your house (complicated enough in its sub-texts), it's another to have a pair of evil androids selling out your country.
Dr. Bordo here (that would be sister Susan to you) liking your asking people to imagine Trump or Vance at your dinner table. The blonde realtor androids would be pretty creepy too. But Harris and Walz would be so much fun!! (Especially if you and Scott were there too.) What would I make? Hmmm….Matzoh ball soup and macaroni and cheese?
The Barbie archetype was created by Roger Ailes at Fox.
I’d love to blame Ailes, but it actually goes back to Hugh Hefner.
You nailed it. As long as traditional media "normalize" the insidious threats of Trumpist oppression and its minions, then they continue to breath life into these noxious characters. In a rational world Harris/Walz would be ahead in the polls by 95% to ca. 5%, but I suppose I expect too much of this species.
Thanks Christopher! This morning, as I’m hearing about how much white men are finding a new role model in Vance (God help us!!) I’m fast losing the tiny glow I was feeling from the Cheney/Harris rally and Bruce Springsteen’s endorsement video.
Agreed, Susan. Vance is an alarmingly clever sociopath, hollow at the core and a master of the slick facade. With the help of the press, his performance will likely persuade wavering Trump voters to get in line. While browsing Substack’s recommended Culture posts (enter at your own risk), I found this from a stacker with a huge following:https://open.substack.com/pub/jessicareedkraus/p/women-across-america-just-fell-in?r=ngwcq&utm_medium=ios
I’m scared to read it!! But of course I will.
Unfortunately, it was a good night for Trump/Vance. I'm not sure the media can erase the impressions that were made.
They could at least try.
This got a belly laugh out of me yesterday: "JD Vance is a fusion of every kid that vanished on the Wonka Factory tour."
We cannot afford to despair!
Yes, that one is good. And It’s delicious to imagine him falling into a vat of boiling syrup. Who came up with that one?
John Fugelsang :)
Susan:
Someone who is good at taking off Vance's mask
is a writer known as the Marked Melungeon.
What Terra [and many of the Marked Melungeon commenters who really know] has allowed us to see under the J.D. Vance-mask - is quite frightening.
And, yes, enraging!
Under Post-Debate Thoughts - https://www.facebook.com/markedmelungeon/posts/pfbid02nztjmSq2eP2YG4YZTuSfgnjCiVxdVLW8HhX9tBQsKamHWEgmkfNesgEhJabWJuCFl
Thanks. I’ll have a look today. The day after I post is usually a day for reading.
Absolutely correct. A vote for Trump is a vote to put Vance in the White House.
Susan, As usual, you nailed it! I kept gagging during the debate as I watched the slime ooze out Vance's mouth. And I screamed at the media for their incompetence in calling out a con artist as he rolled his lies across the stage. My concern is yours: What if something happens to Trump and J.D. assumes the role of commander-in-chief. Is this what the Heritage Foundation is planning? Has this been the plan all along? It's terrifying and creepy.
Thank you Jane! I have started to wonder if this has been the plan all along. Have Trump’s deplorable MAGAs get him back in the White House and then start working in earnest on the Vance takeover. It is, as you say, terrifying.
Unless the Bloated Yam runs again in 2028 -- which I think he will do -- JD Vance will be the GOP nominee four years from now.
I don’t think the Bloated Yam (love this!) is going to make it to 2028. He’s looking pretty decrepit in recent appearances. But with Vance in the wings, that’s not the cause for joy that I once thought it would be.
Vance has different problems from the Bloated Yam, but he will be their 2028 nominee if the Yam eats his last Big Mac.
Anyway, he’s so stuffed with fast food, the preservatives will keep him alive to age 150.
My wife invented the term.
With Ivanka as VP
Well, she’ll spend a lot of money on fashion..
Susan, I tried to share it on FB, but FB removed it immediately and told me I had violated community standards by posting it. I asked them to review the decision. We'll see. It shocked me and made me think that your name signaled something nefarious to "them." A strong feminist for half a century, I also find myself thinking that Big Brother is watching me for a misstep. Silencing outspoken women is a fundamental patriarchal tenet. Ugh! Thank you for all you persist in doing!
M.Keith: Other people have been having the exact same problem, and I was told that there a new guy there who was one of the authors of Project 2025 (forgot the name but I’ll look it up for you after I finish this note) who is removing/restricting left-leaning content. Of course, I’m furious. But for the time being, please just share and post a blurb of some innocuous sort without a link (I’ll suggest one below) but tag me on it. When I see the tag I’ll add a link to the piece to the comments. Thanks for your efforts!! (Feel free to write your own blurb or pull out and post a section of the piece that doesn’t scream: “Lefty Feminist!!!”
“This wasn’t civility. It was one man duplicitously and cynically performing being reasonable and nice, and the other man—who truly is reasonable and nice—being (overly) generous. And perhaps Walz was also a bit surprised, and taken off guard. Understandable, I think. He was “debating” an artfully constructed android. Who managed not to malfunction until the very end. Thank goodness his gears finally did go off the rails.
The devil can wear a pleasing face. That’s how the trickster operates, too.”
FROM Susan Bordo’s LATEST STACK: “THE SALESMAN AND THE TRICKSTER”
The guy’s name is Dustin Carmack and he’s now Meta’s public policy director. He wrote a chapter of Project 2025.
Thanks for calling out corporate reporting for another blatant sanewashing. As you made clear, calmly and confidently lying to our faces shouldn't be applauded. If you wouldn't want that quality in an oncologist, why would you celebrate it in someone who could potentially make executive decisions for your nation?
I couldn't agree with you more, Susan. Vance is far more dangerous than Trump, and he's received the reality-tv edit of his dreams with the VP debate from journalists who should know better. The two moderators were hobbled from the start of the debate by the gutless policy of CBS News to have the candidates "fact-check" themselves. See the explicit connection I made to reality tv in my recent post about the debate: https://marthanichols.substack.com/p/who-gets-voted-off-the-island-first
For the moment, it looks like they are both surviving, but Vance has got himself a following—actually, two: young men who admire him (God help their generation of women) and young women who have crushes on him (who need even more help.) So he’s achieved what every reality-tv contestant desires most: not just those headlines that called him “smooth,” “polished,” etc but groupies. He’s become an influencer!!!
As far as the various predictable roles people get “assigned” and edited to embody on reality tv, the kicker here is that Vance wasn’t assigned the role of the one we’re supposed to hate, but the opposite. He was so “nice”—cordial, collegial, “bipartisan,” concerned (e.g. about Walz’s son seeing a school shooting.) It was a strategy they deliberately constructed to throw Walz off (talk about editing reality!) And it worked. Until the BiG REVEAL at the end, which didn’t dirty him for ordinary viewers the way the media mavens would like to think it did.
Creepy, creepy, creepy. Scary, scary, scary.
You’re right that those supposedly in charge of editing reality-tv characters - producers and, in this case, journalists - were taken in by Vance’s performance and gave him the “smart-nice” spin he was after. But in shows like Survivor, the most strategic players perform in this way, with an eye to how they’ll be edited - and the performance (or trickery, as you put it) is part of the appeal. A “villain edit” these days can be a strategic move, too, because part of what viewers appreciate is the performance.
So, is Vance an influencer? I think he wants to be, but I’m not quite convinced that he’s really roped in that many young groupies. Here’s where the reality-tv analogy breaks down, because it’s not just a vote off a fictitious island. The real consequence of his debate performance is that the press didn’t call out his manipulations in real-time. They were too taken in by Vance’s debating skills, as if the performance was all, to state what they are: a cover for inner ugliness and right-wing demagoguery. Or, for a political reporter like Maggie Haberman, it’s all a game of strategy on both sides, so we get endless yammering about horse races and polls and the results of strategic moves, which ultimately comes down to who wins the next round of Risk. But this time, whoever takes over the board is about as real as reality gets.
My worries about young voters center much more on those who will stay home from the polls as a protest against the Biden administration.
I have an idea. You may or may not know, but I used to teach a course on TV culture, which included a section on Reality TV—which I also wrote a bit about in my little TV book. Since you’ve gotten interested in the TV/politics connection, maybe we could collaborate on something? I really enjoy collaboration and I think we’d make a great combo!
Yes, I did know about your past course, and I’ve been following reality tv for awhile - I’ve been mulling over some of the issues with reality being shaped by AI in similar problematic ways, for instance. I think we could do a great collaboration about the shaping of political reality and manufactured authenticity - let’s talk 😉
Just saw this: https://newrepublic.com/article/186752/yassified-jd-vance-ai-trump-mike-collins
Yep, AI image modification is one thing, and we’re already inundated with it (that’s why I spun my own silliness for Vance in my opening image). Beyond images, though, I think the more lasting challenge is with attitudes toward truth and accuracy. Many younger writers I work with are quite shocked to realize that it’s not ok to change timelines or cut events in a nonfiction story - they have been inculcated with a belief theat the higher “emotional truth” matters, and that anything you see online is a performance anyway. Reality TV has changed how we view the world and people’s motivations - so has an overly reductive approach to drag and image transformation in trans discourse (something the article points to) - and now the constant manipulations of AI are making fakery and “real” with scare quotes seem normal.
One consequence on the young political left: they’ve had far less direct contact with Holocaust survivors, and much direct testimony has not been digitized. So, the Holocaust is viewed virtually as less real or important, even if you believe it happened.
This is at the top of my list for today’s reads. I usually save my juicy reads for the day after I post. That’s today!