Politics of Spectacle

Economic dislocation has eroded trust in liberal democratic systems. It has fostered support for leaders who promise order and stability. Authoritarian leaders have grabbed the weakening of democratic institutions to consolidate their hold on power. They also cherry-pick the statistics. Trump is doing what other elected autocrats are doing — pursuing retribution against political enemies, dismantling the administrative state and climate policies, demeaning the judicial system and cultivating crony corruption

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Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa says in his book, The Civilisation of the Spectacle, that culture has become mere entertainment for the masses. It distracts us from what is important. It blinds us from what is going on in the world.

Today, the spectacle is not confined to culture and media power. It doesn't occur only in consumerism, where material possessions replace real experiences, but also in politics, religion and art, where representation replaces a lived reality.

The economy, politics, social life and culture are all dominated by forms of spectacle. In the age of digital capitalism, everything has become a spectacle. Politics itself has become a soap opera.

It has become a ribald vaudeville, full of scandal and pantomime. Autocratic leaders, in particular, act like nimble showmen, playing acrobat, Rambo, entrepreneur, messiah, often all at the same time.

As British journalist Gideon Rochman says in his book, Age of the Strongman, the elected autocrats are known for cultivating a cult of personality, macho posturing and rhetoric, contempt for independent media and political correctness, conspiracy theories and nostalgia of a 'glorious' past.

They are essentially showmen/show-women who must show their skills and become the masters of media spectacle. The media constructs have become crucial for their success. The pliable media sideline other stories and habitual flow of news and move around a leader and her/his brand of politics.

Media outlets decide which stories to cover, which sources to quote, and which perspectives to highlight. The agenda-setting function of media means that by choosing what to report, media influences what people think.

What is the playbook of these leaders? Misusing the mass media, they play the idol and everyman/everywoman at the same time. Myths and legends spring up around them. Some become avatars, others Rambos. Politics becomes a spectacle.