TV Candidates beware--earnestness is fatal

TV demands sophistication and insouciance.

Words of advice for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and company...

Way back in 1968, Marshall McLuhan explained that TV candidates must understand "the contemporary interface of all cultures" and should not "be deluded into any earnest regard for any one of them." 

The wise candidate shows insouciance (indifference) as a survival technique. Jeb Bush serves as a cautionary tale for wanting the job too much.

McLuhan warns against  getting in a huff about the immorality of it all... "The new changes are not moral but technological." 

Saturday Evening Post (August 10, 1968)      

All of the Candidates are Asleep         

By: Marshall McLuhan


Why should TV demand sophistication and insouciance? Simply because it is a depth medium for which earnestness is fatal. Depth requires perception on   many levels, and, therefore, an absence of single       purpose or direction. An all-at-once world, fashioned by electric information, demands a candidate full  of puns and expected nuances. Such a man is one     who knows so much about the contemporary interface of all cultures that he cannot possibly be deluded  into any earnest regard for any of them. The new       changes are not moral but technological.

TV... bypasses the ballot box!

The TV image ends all national and party politics.

Way back in 1968, Marshall McLuhan predicted that "TV bypasses the ballot box" and "ends party politics."  

Everybody, including the talking heads, wonders "how did Trump make progress toward the Republican nomination without party support?" 

Saturday Evening Post (August 10, 1968)      

All of the Candidates are Asleep         

By: Marshall McLuhan


But in a deep sense, TV bypasses the ballot box as a means of creating political "representatives." TV is  not concerned with view or interests or issues. It is a maker and finder of images that ride over all points of view and over all age-groups as well. The TV image ends all national and party politics.

New Year's Resolutions (2016)-- curb the cellphone

Let's face it. There is only one resolution to be considered. "Stop staring at my cellphone." Give it up. Give it a rest. I heard an expert talking about cellphone use. People have their cellphones next to their bed. They check their Messages in the middle of the night. Sleep is disrupted. A person without sleep is a crazy person. People text while they drive. A person who texts and drives is a crazy person. The machines are making us crazy.

Our machines, the ones that we built, now run 24 hours a day/7 days a week. The machines, the apps... they rule our lives and we love it! That's the problem. People do the things they love. Funny how kids in high school always knew the lyrics to popular rock n roll songs. But math equations of dates for history class were a mystery, lost somewhere and never to be recovered. The ads could be recalled because the songs had catchy beats... "You'll wonder where the yellow went, if you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." That's an old TV ad, you probably never heard or saw.

Can you resolve to change your cellphone behavior? It's you versus the machine. Are you looking at your phone while at dinner with friends or family? That's loser behavior. And you're telling your company that they do not matter. You'd rather be someplace else. You want to be where your phone transports you-- with some other people, in some other place.

Every gone to a restaurant with a friend and they're looking over your shoulder? They want to see if somebody interesting shows up. Somebody more attractive, powerful and important than you. And why? If you were really important, you would not be eating with them. And so it goes.... your eyes staring at your phone tell other people, nearby people, they do not matter very much.

So, how can you change your cellphone behavior for 2016?

Thanks,

Mr. Manners
(etiquette coach)