McLuhan Predicts-- an Era of Feelings

"We are heading into a very McLuhan-esque year. Marshall McLuhan-- the Patron Saint of WIRED-- made his name in the 1960s, studying how pivotal technologies produced widespread, non obvious changes. The Gutenberg press, he argued, created a spirit of "detachment" that propelled science while giving a new sense of agency to individuals. Electricity had a "tactile" effect, keeping us in contact with the world via telegraph, telephone and TV. "
The Social Medium is The Message (Feb 2017-- Wired magazine)

Clive Thompson's article, The Social Medium is the Message, appearing in this month's Wired magazine, explains so much about the present situation-- a world coming unglued by Trump's single week as President of the United States.

Donald Trump aroused a conflagration in 2016, getting elected against long odds and defeating Hillary Clinton, the heavy favorite. Hillary was favored by the most computer savvy people. I attended a dinner party on the night of the election, intended to be a celebration party for our group of liberal-minded friends. Instead, the party took on the feeling of a wake. We were shocked, along with the rest of the world.

The aftermath of Hillary's defeat proved as surprising as the actual loss. The supporters went into an extended period of mourning. The reason partly can be explained by Trump's extreme positions and shady track record. Trump displayed traits of a schoolyard bully. He oozed bile for his enemies-- beginning with Low Energy Jeb, followed by Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, and Crooked Hillary. The epithets had a catchy ring to them-- and you couldn't get them out of your head. Trump has some of the talent of a Madison Avenue composer of catchy phrases and memorable memes. But that Trumpian bombast and vitriol does not fully explain the deep sadness of the anti-Trump forces. After all, we had George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon in the nation's recent past.

Why didn't the liberal left collapse in a heap of emotions when right wing candidates took office in the past? The answer lies in Marshall McLuhan's prediction-- today's electronic man has feelings where the Gutenberg, literary man maintained an air of detachment. We are totally involved in our cellphones, our Facebook, our electronic Friends, our instant communications, and our feelings.

Trump has taken office  and instituted a number of actions, fitful and intense stabs at public policy. They include talk of a wall between Mexico and the US and trade tariffs. Trump ordered a shutdown of Muslim visitors to the United States from 7 Muslim countries--and feelings are raging at levels rarely seen in public discourse. Trump's wrongheaded policies and purple rhetoric does not totally explain the emotional response exhibited in big cities across the country. I attended Vietnam era anti-war rallies and did not see the level of emotion in today's rallies.

So what's going on.... The electronic vortex, the social media, news at 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light, has brought us all closer together. We are a global village, just like Marshall McLuhan predicted. We are the villagers crowded around the tribal campfire. We take events quickly to heart. We no longer are the detached, literary men of the era of newspapers and train transport. The world changes in the blink of an eye. The same explosive media tools used by Donald Trump, the Twitter, the catchy phrases, the anger hurled at enemies real and imagined, that worked to get him elected can bring also bring him down. The social media giveth-- and taketh away.

Trump: rain-maker or hatchet man?

Hatchet Man--  definition

• a person employed to carry out controversial or disagreeable tasks, such as the   dismissal of a number of people from employment.
• person who writes fierce attacks on others or their work.

Donald Trump has roared into power like an unknown racehorse storming to the front of the pack and crossing the finish line before the competition. Rather than sit on his laurels and savor his victory with a cigar and glass of champagne, he seems more fired up than ever. What does this intensity mean?

Trump's critics perceive a scary future in the whirlwind of tweets and attacks he has leveled in almost every direction. What should we expect from The Donald? Take a look at a few things we have learned.

Donald Trump loves the states and the voters that voted for him-- especially the states not expected to go his way, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He loves Ivanka, his attractive daughter. Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband and Donald's son-in-law, has a talent for strategy. Jared played a key role in engineering Donald Trump's campaign and unexpected rise to the front of the pack. Jared Kushner has risen to the top of Donald's inner circle. He may have helped with Donald Trump's understanding of the effective use of electronic media.

Donald is fond of Twitter. He tweets the electronic environment as a means of bypassing committees, bureaucrats, enemies, fellow Republicans, and the mainstream media. Donald's inflammatory tweets propel him to the front of the mainstream media-- cable TV news shows, etc., and he becomes mainstream media.

Donald portrays himself as a master dealmaker, presumably a peerless negotiator. Donald Trump is in an enviable position for expanding his own wealth. The accumulation of personal riches has been a life-long goal. He is having trouble separating himself from this commitment to his own wealth. He claims to have switched his hierarchy of goals. Now he wants to do great things for America. Does he know how to do this? What does this look like for America? He plans to win many jobs for Americans. 

Donald likes to play hardball. His deal-making style is to keep the other guy off balance. Does this aggressive style work on the world stage? The stock market does not like off-balance. Parents like their children to feel the world is a peaceful place. Trump enjoys keeping everybody on edge and himself firmly planted on center stage, the only man who can pull us from the fire, the skilled super-hero able to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.

We will learn if Donald Trump truly has any talent for making other people richer-- the great expanse of humanity, the American citizenry feeling the most pain. Most rich people devote themselves to their own riches. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, and a billionaire like Trump, showed an interest in the day-to-day operations and details of running of the city. Bloomberg never employed braggadoccio or threats. He had a talent for steering New York City down a path to success.

Donald Trump reminds me of a hatchet man (see above). A hatchet man arrived at my place of employment, an office where I worked about fifteen years ago. He had a confrontational style which ran totally contrary to the bureaucratic environment. People shook in their boots-- wondering if their job was in jeopardy. The guy's name was Sean. He brimmed with confidence and was not afraid to seem a bit eccentric. Sean broke the mold. I left that office for reasons not related to Sean's arrival. I later heard he left under a cloud of controversy. Turns out Sean had skeletons in his closet, had committed acts of bad judgment, far worse than anything he had accused of others. Sean shook things up-- changes were made that only he had the courage to act upon, but his demise came quickly. 

The question will be answered in the coming weeks, months and years. We will learn. Donald Trump may be a rain-maker, the greatest job producer every place by God on this green earth... or maybe he is just a hatchet man, acting on society's impulses, and forcing change upon us all.

Trump: The Importance of Insouciance

The name Trump is on everybody's lips. Love him or hate him, you've got to watch him. Trump understands electronic media. Funny that a 70 year old man figured out the method for flourishing in the 24/7 media environment. Donald Trump is a natural extrovert. He defines the concept that "all publicity is good publicity." He embraces the microphone, the spotlight and tweets constantly. Trump loves conflict. All drama progresses on the basis of conflict. Good movies move forward on conflict. Today's politics have converged with entertainment-- and beg for conflict.

Only one scholar has explained how this happened-- Marshall McLuhan, the media guru who died in 1980. Marshall McLuhan taught us a simple truth-- the candidate must meet the the electronic media with an attitude of insouciance.

What is insouciance?  In-sou-ci-ance -- (noun) a casual lack of concern; indifference

Synonyms--lack of concern, unconcern,  disinterest, lack of interest, lack of enthusiasm, apathy, nonchalance, insouciance


Marshall McLuhan made the following statement in a Saturday Evening Post magazine article he penned about the 1968 presidential election and the importance of television:


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 unexpected 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 one of them. The new changes are not moral but technological.  

(Saturday Evening Post, August 10, 1968)

McLuhan's statement about the Importance of Not Being Earnest applies even more precisely to the presidential election of 2016.

Trump uses Twitter to go directly to the audience. He captures and capsizes his enemies with simple phases-- Low Energy (Jeb Bush), Lyin' Ted (Ted Cruz), Crooked Hillary (Hillary Clinton)-- but simple phrases are never turned on him. The attacks do not work on Trump.

The insults never turn the tables on Trump- because of his insouciance. His skin may seem thin, but...  Sticks and stones may break bones, but words will never harm him.