Technology is often touted as being capable of improving all things. Communication, transportation and refrigeration ““ it is hard to imagine where we were before such advancements.
And yet, we are often surprised at the ease with which such a powerful tool becomes something trivial (text messaging), vile (child pornography), and otherwise deleterious (junk mail viruses).
Last week’s Republican YouTube Debate was a fine example of all three of these things.
The production ““ like its July, Democratic counterpart ““ confirmed CNN’s ability to make deft use of two modes: one part politics as usual, and one part hapless comedy show.
The viewer was treated to a flashy, arbitrary attempt at revolutionizing politics and shaking it from its prepared answers and issue skirting.
But somehow, in its efforts to do so, it exemplified ““ not solved ““ these problems.
While the video format of the debates was certainly eye-catching, it did little to promote voters’ understanding of the candidate’s stances.
Instead, the format favored ever-hopeless attempts at comedy, immature quips between candidates, and an overwhelming number of Ronald Reagan references (the late president was recalled seven times).
It is hard to choose which question was the most foolish or pointless, but one shining example is the question posed by Jay Fox, a self-described lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.
He introduced himself, claimed that he liked his “big guns,” and then asked the candidates their view on gun control.
He ended by pointing the gun and saying, “Don’t worry, you can answer however you like.” And then he threw the weapon.
Congressmen Duncan Hunter (CA) fielded the question and was given 90 seconds to respond.
He spent more than one-third of his time on this part of his response: “Well, first I’ve got to inform Jay that as a guy who got his first hunting license at the age of 10 and really believes in the right to keep and bear arms, and used them in the military, as my son did in Fallujah, you should never throw a gun to a person. He should have taken that gun handed-off from his fellow hunter. So you have to be safe with guns, Jay.”
That a politician supposedly vying seriously for a chance to hold what may be the most important position in the entire world has to answer a question that reeks with testosterone and bravado speaks poorly for the state of American politics.
That he only mentioned his military experience in passing demonstrates the trivialization of serious issues in these debates.
Another major issue was the lack of consistency. Anderson Cooper, the moderator, asked follow-up questions in an arbitrary manner.
It appeared as if he would only prod further when he felt the answer given was not sensational enough.
Additionally, the candidates were hardly given an equal number of questions.
In the Democratic debate, for example, Senator Hillary Clinton answered (although “addressed” may be a better description of her responses) nine questions.
Senator Joe Biden was only served five.
The difference may not seem like much, but since the July debate, Biden has fallen to holding only 2 percent of the voters who say they would nominate him as the Democratic candidate.
A four-question difference is certainly not enough to claim causality, but it is not clear if candidates who are later unsuccessful receive few questions because of their ineptitude, or suffer as a result of not being able to explicate their platforms on national television.
In any case, candidates should either not be included in a debate, or they should be given equal time.
Ultimately, the debates were not somehow egregiously biased and did not conspire against any particular party. They may not even be more trivial or staged than conventional debates.
The tragedy, however, is in that CNN, “The Most Trusted Name in News” used its time, money, and industry-wide clout to further neither a pursuit of journalistic integrity nor truth, but to solidify the sound bite as this generation’s political standard.
Agree or disagree? Send Makarechi your responses in a YouTube video at kmakarechi@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.