With the growing availability of different means for communication (youtube, facebook, cable television, etc.) many different pop culture icons have been able to express themselves better about politics. This phenomenon both helps people be more aware of what is going on but also can sometimes deter people from caring. The 2008 campaign has been everywhere: from street corners where venders sell candidate buttons to commercials on TV. Everyone has something to say about it. Many people are becoming more and more aware of the issues that are being discussed in debates and in the news. It is harder and harder to be ignorant when everything around you is screaming CAMPAIGN. This is a benefit of the apparent merger between politics and popular culture. People who otherwise wouldn’t change their daily routines to find out what is going on are now bombarded with information and cannot escape the political issues at hand. Late night talk show hosts are indiscrete and opinions fly around freely. Sometimes it is not the political issues that make the news themselves, but the popular culture that got involved in the campaign. It has become an in-your-face election year, one that is impossible to hide from.
On the other hand, some people are reacting negatively to this convergence. They are repelled from the forced involvement in the campaign since it is everywhere. There is a noticeable apathy when it comes to watching the actual debates themselves and discussing the after-math. Many people feel the political situation in the US is getting old and would prefer to talk about it less. The popular culture’s involvement is over-whelming and no one wants to “waste” their time paying attention anymore. The accessibility of information pertaining to the campaign deters people from trying to get involved. It takes nearly no energy to find out what is happening and people are being more and more apathetic. There is an “enough is enough” attitude that creates a certain tension among constituencies. The drama surrounding the election that is magnified by the involvement of pop culture has become too much for certain people.
Popular culture provides another way for people to be informed which is important since we live in a society facing many social, economic and political problems. It is a time when everyone needs to get involved and have an active opinion. On the other hand, too much exposure to these issues can turn people off from wanting to get involved. It is vital to find a balance: one where people can easily access information on issues but not too much information inundation.
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I agree that a balance needs to be found. This election seems to have been going on forever. All I see now is mudslinging. I cannot wait for it to be over. All I see is election coverage and it is all mudslinging. There is far too much exposure. It does not seem to be about the politics anymore, but a popularity contest. This means that most people do not actually know about the issues. Most people just care about the religion or the race of the candidate. There is so much election coverage that people do not really attempt to learn about the issues. In other countries the election process is only a month of two long. And in this short amount of time the issues are the only things that can be addressed. There is almost no evidence placed on religion. That seems like a much better process than the one here that is more than a year long and comes down to nothing, but mudslinging.
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