The real problem with politics today

I am a big fan of Umberto Eco's work, and have recently finished reading Turning Back the Clock: Hot Wars and Media Populism. This is a collection of talks and essays, covering a range of topics including some interesting discussions on politics, with a focus, naturally, on Italian politics (which, in all honesty, is probably the most interesting area of European politics over the last decade or two).

One of the points that he makes is the importance of controlling the media. Berlusconi manipulated the media - dropped bombshells as appropriate times (good days to bury bad news), but also, Eco explains, manipulated events to ensure that bad news was buried, because other events were taking the headlines.

It is interesting in this country that Cameron manages to put all of the blame for problems on the LibDems. He also manages to be consistent for a day or so, which (as Eco explains) is all that is needed, because very few people actually expect consistency. Very few actually follow the news seriously. I am not unusual, I don't think, in getting my news in 2 minute sections on the radio, along with the BBC news site. My news input is actually very little, and very easy to manipulate because stories that are not "right" can always get left off.

The interesting thing is that media manipulation is not just about ensuring that your party views are always shown positively. It is about controlling the criticism as well. Two of the critical critiques of the political arena today are "Have I got News for You" and "Mock the Week" (there are others, but these are probably the main ones). These are significant making a criticism, but they are clearly defined as comedy shows, and so a lot of  people don;t take the critique seriously. People like Boris Johnson make themselves objects of ridicule, so that nobody takes their policy declarations - which are important - seriously either. that is master manipulation, and is very dangerous.

Another aspect that is, I believe, significant is the reality TV phenomena. The problem that these shows cause is that they diminish the significance of voting. Most of the time, the public treat "voting" as choosing a favorite from a TV show - and the x-factor and Strictly experience is that voting for the idiots is funny. The hype around it makes it seem like the voting is Very Important - there is a hype pretty much as significant as the hype around proper elections. I believe that many people get confused, generally subconsciously.

This is, I believe, one reason that UKIP did quite well in the EP elections. They were the funny party to vote for, for those who really had no idea who they wanted to represent them. And (whatever he says) Cameron is delighted that they did well, because it enables him to position himself as less draconian as UKIP, while moving further to the right because he can argue that this is what the electorate clearly want. They have served him very well. this is one form of his manipulation of the media and the political system.

Finally, the lack of Green Party coverage means that the socialist end of the political spectrum are criticising the BBC. This enables him to privatise it more and more, arguing that it is clearly not fulfilling its needs to be independent, while enjoying the fact that its lack if independence is helping him. Of course, as it is privatised, this will make it less independent not more - but, as Eco explains, this is simply manipulation. This is also shown in the presentation of the NHS, where they are clearly blamed for problems that might be related to privatised companies. The results of this will be that to resolve the perceived problems, the solution is to privatise more, rather than less and enabling it to work. This is manipulation of the highest order - and it is happening daily.

In the end, the problem with politics today is that the politicians are very manipulative, and they have learnt that by manipulating the media, that is all they need to do. By manipulating the media, we are all manipulated, we are all forced into positions that we may not want to agree with.

I hate being manipulated.