Can Joe Biden win a presidential campaign from his basement on a small screen without anyone watching? We’re about to find out. Of course, it’s not like most people ever get to interact with the candidates anyway. It’s just that television seems more “real” than the Internet.
This Virtual Campaign Is Even Less Exciting Than the Usual Virtual Campaign
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The first issue can easily be resolved by using a desktop with a large monitor – or, indeed, coupling a laptop to a large-screen TV. As for the crowd, I understand that Zoom provides users with virtual backgounds – perhaps there’s one of crowds ?…
Henri
Ted,
All ritual is differentiated from the mundane by space and time. Weddings, funerals, christenings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, etc., all take time and require special locations (usually spacious, often multiple) for the ritual to play out.
Joe Biden’s campaign (via the basement) will get nailed to the crossbeam by the meh factor. I was just at the New York Times politics page. I can find only two ads — I mean articles — with Biden on the headline: “Why Some Democrats Worry About the Whiteness of Biden’s Inner Circle” and “Biden Says About ‘10 to 15 Percent’ of Americans Are ‘Not Very Good People.’ ” It’s like “Wayne’s World,” but with lower production values and less-interesting content.
Maybe campaigns shouldn’t be exciting.
Maybe they should be thoughtful.
An exciting campaign is needed in order to sweep away the malodorous blandness of candidates.
Trump wants a convention hall full of excitement so he wants to move his convention to a state that violates COVID-19 health science.
Maybe a contrived enthusiasm leads to poor judgement.
It seems that a contrived contagion of excitement has often resulted in bad presidents.
Ah, the chatty bliss, and complete political neutralization, of continually lowered expectations!