Election 2008/Modern Culture
Image or Word

In 2008, the majority of advertising for candidates is on television. It is the projecting of images. Images can show a reality of sorts, but they do not allow discerning or interpretation. Words are required for that. TV images are usually accompanied by “sound bites” not explanations of positions. And, it is because of the image driven political culture that there is more of an emphasis on personality than character. How many times have you heard people say: “I like ________” but when pressed about what _______’s policies, beliefs or character is, they draw a blank. Why, because we really do not know the people we elect today.

Warren Susman wrote an article some time ago entitled “Personality and the Making of 20th Century Culture”. In it he opines that in the image driven culture of the 20th century we moved from character formation to personality formation. Instead of using nouns to describe someone, we now use adjectives. We can know so few people in a crowded world. If we want to appeal to more than our immediate family and community, personality instead of character is required. Public Relations came on the scene in the early 1900s as a way of managing a person’s image. It first was used with the new burgeoning motion picture “stars”, but was adapted to all public persons. Now, it is the most important aspect of modern day politicians.

We have had the “debates” [where the questioned often fail to answer the Q asked resulting in another preening sound bite] and candidates still make “stump speeches” [carefully crafted for the audience consuming the speech] but the overwhelming exposure voters have to candidates is the sound bite image on TV. And, we have become image consumers. Images do not explain themselves, cannot be interpreted by themselves nor describe the inner makeup of the image if it is a person. Images are for the folks who do not think and do not want to know anything more than what this candidate can do for me. Images give the voter the opportunity to choose without much work. Images massage your desires and wants making you feel like the empowered consumer but cannot tell you what you are buying. There is no precision with images; they emote. We are not taught by images. It’s what grandma used to say about “buying a pig in a poke.” You really do not really know who or what you are voting for.

Mass media is all about commodifying everything for the consumer. And, that extends to political choice. You are manipulated into a position where you think you are the sovereign and can unleash your personal freedom to vote for _____________. This is an especial problem for Christians because we are people of the Word, not image. For Christians there is a theology of language. God “spoke” creation into existence; Adam was given the task of “naming the animals”; God’s identity is tied to His Name [“I am”]; Jesus is the “Word” made flesh; we are baptized in the “Name”; and there are to be no “images” of God because Christ “revealed in the Word” is sufficient for man. Contrary to modern theorists, language did not evolve. We speak because God is a speaking God from the beginning of time.

So, during this election time, and in all of life, Christians are to be about understanding what is said and believed, not just what is portrayed. We are to be interested in character not personality. We are to be interested in depth not superficiality. We have been receivers of grace and we are not consumers of images. We need to make a discerning and wise choice not as a consumer of an image but as a believer in truth and goodness.