Republican Response to the State of the Union 2011- VIDEO analysis
The linked video shows an analyst reviewing Paul Ryan't response to the State of the Union Address by the President. Click the link to the critique. My critique of the critique:
Paul Ryan is the father of three children and the Chairman of the Congressional Budget Committee. He is no kid or gawky office manager. The analyst here is a media consultant, however, and not interested in substance at all. He is all about image. It is true that Ryan looks young.
The anlaytic tradition of our speaker goes back to the sophists by way of Machiavelli. For them, it is silly to worry about what is right or wrong. What matters is results. The sophists claimed that everything is opinion. If so, truth does not matter. Persuasion and persuasive technique do. Power is everything. In this case, I believe every individual point made is valid. This is a competent analysis. But it is what is chosen to analyse that troubles me some.
The analyst assumes that Ryan shares his professional cynicism, butconsider that Ryan was saying that if our government keeps borrowing as it is, disaster is inevitable. Disaster means deep austerity and slow growth, which translates to a lower standard of living for everyone. If he is right, his message is urgent., His style or haircut, not so much.
Thus media analysis even though correct on every point may still, by its choice of the terms of reference, end up trivializing everything. And in the process, the citizenry become merely members of a vast audience.