The word is, Oprah Winfrey is ‘entertaining the idea’ of running for the presidency, after making a powerful speech at the Golden Globe Awards the other week. She is being hailed as ‘the antidote to Trump”, with Stephen Spielberg claiming that we need ‘a mindful, empathetic human being in the White House’.
No argument there. But I suspect that the key word in that first dentence is not ‘idea’ but ‘entertaining’.
Trump is a TV celebrity turned politician. And the States has also given us Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. In the UK, we have showmen like Boris Johnson in key positions, regularly making idiots of themselves and the electorate with ludicrous actions and crass statements.
The ‘celebrity culture’ is not merely taking over our TV and movie screens. It is taking over our lives and our national institutions.
What’s equally concerning is the way that this culture, propagated by the mainstream media, forces even principled politicians to play the same game.
Yes, I am thinking of Jeremy Corbyn.
No argument there. But I suspect that the key word in that first dentence is not ‘idea’ but ‘entertaining’.
Trump is a TV celebrity turned politician. And the States has also given us Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. In the UK, we have showmen like Boris Johnson in key positions, regularly making idiots of themselves and the electorate with ludicrous actions and crass statements.
The ‘celebrity culture’ is not merely taking over our TV and movie screens. It is taking over our lives and our national institutions.
What’s equally concerning is the way that this culture, propagated by the mainstream media, forces even principled politicians to play the same game.
Yes, I am thinking of Jeremy Corbyn.
Politics is now profoundly personalized. It is easier to relate to an individual than to an idea or ideology. And for a lazy journalist, of which there are currently far too many across the political spectrum, it is so much simpler to present a caricature than to explain complex issues, even though almost all decisions and policies are now collegial rather than individual.
It was no accident that many voters told Labour canvassers that ‘they couldn’t vote for Corbyn’, until the election campaign suddenly forced the mainstream media to put policies on the front page.
Right now, Corbyn has a massive following. He is popular but not, willingly, populist. If he is not a celebrity, he has celebrity status. He appears at rock gigs. Thousands serenade him: “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn”.
I don’t join in (or at least not without a sense of irony). But then I am neither a Corbynite nor a Corbynista; I am Labour.
Yes, I am impressed by the way in which Corbyn remains principled, quietly spoken, committed to ideas and policies, steadfast in his refusal to involve himself in personal abuse.
But my allegiance is not to him personally. It is to the the political philosophy he espouses and uses his celebrity to promote.
Today from the everysmith vaults: A December 2000 gig from the avant-jazz-funk band Medeski, Martin & Wood. Not everyone’s cup of tea – it is, after all, a fusion of avant, jazz and funk – but now and then, I'm in the mood.
It was no accident that many voters told Labour canvassers that ‘they couldn’t vote for Corbyn’, until the election campaign suddenly forced the mainstream media to put policies on the front page.
Right now, Corbyn has a massive following. He is popular but not, willingly, populist. If he is not a celebrity, he has celebrity status. He appears at rock gigs. Thousands serenade him: “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn”.
I don’t join in (or at least not without a sense of irony). But then I am neither a Corbynite nor a Corbynista; I am Labour.
Yes, I am impressed by the way in which Corbyn remains principled, quietly spoken, committed to ideas and policies, steadfast in his refusal to involve himself in personal abuse.
But my allegiance is not to him personally. It is to the the political philosophy he espouses and uses his celebrity to promote.
Today from the everysmith vaults: A December 2000 gig from the avant-jazz-funk band Medeski, Martin & Wood. Not everyone’s cup of tea – it is, after all, a fusion of avant, jazz and funk – but now and then, I'm in the mood.
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