Huh? What? I fell asleep there

[theswordmaiden]

Philistinism in the domain of culture has been paralleled by similar trends influencing public debate and political life. One of the clearest manifestations of this process is the manifest decline in the standards of political debate. Spoon-feeding the public with sound bites has become a highly prized political skill. Professional speech-writers

Comments

[jamesenge]

I've seen stuff like this, too, but I'm not sure of its validity. Simplicity and directness isn't necessarily childish. (Not necessarily not, either, of course...)

[theswordmaiden]

I agree, I don't necessarily mind simplicity and directness, or even 6th grade-level speech. I do mind if the canditates rely on sound bites and people actually vote based on those.

It's cool though, I'm not always sure if it's "simple and direct" or "shallow, short-termist and bereft of ideas." :) I would at least prefer if the people are able to explain their ideas more fully, without one-liners, and especially without resorting to ad hominems or other errors.

[jamesenge]

I'm not always sure if it's "simple and direct" or "shallow, short-termist and bereft of ideas."

Well said. All the skill in modern political rhetoric seems to be focused on avoiding inconvenient issues and ideas.