Keywords: vice-presidential debate, U.S, media manipulation, mudslinging, media, gateway, relevance.
- The opinions expressed in this blog post are opinions from me, the writer, Ellinor Thor.
All my blog posts have in some way covered and discussed trending and current topics/events. This blog post will be no different. Today, I will cover a relevant and current topic that is increasing awareness in media and digital networks.
2020 is an eventful year in many ways. It feels like events are following each other and escalating one after one. Environmental disasters, pandemics, racism, social injustice and of course, the American Presidential election. Thus, it probably has not escaped anyone that it is election-times in the US right now. We see debates, media discussions and talk shows that are constantly raising this topic. Therefore, I will refer this post to a debate between the Vice-president candidates, more correct, the current vice-president, Mike Pence and the vice-president candidate and California Senator, Kamala Harris. The debate was held on October 7th, 2020. If you ask why I chose the vice-president debate instead of the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, my answer is that I want to shed more light to the fact that Kamala Harris is the first black woman and first Indian-American woman to participate in a US election debate. Also, the presidential debate maintained a fairly low level of ethics and moral, and I do not want to shed further light on that debate. The vice-presidential debate on the other hand kept different professionalism (but perhaps the same applies to the apolitical part) in my opinion and therefore, I chose to shed light on that debate instead. Because Kamala Harris is the first black woman to participate in a US presidential election debate, I do believe that it will create a larger media-wave, as this tends to upset some of the American population, and I find that interesting and provoking.
Because of the increased use of social and new media, the recorded vice-presidential debate has been spread across the globe. This debate has, given the upsurge in the media, created more media manipulation and more digital activism. Given those facts, is the debate even relevant and are the following media-discussions relevant? Is the vice-presidential a gateway to more digital activism and new media stunts?
Without going into politics and without discussing who is the better person for the job, I find it relevant to discuss and to create some sort of summary from the debate, because of its recent upswing in media. What can we say about it in general terms? By going through parts of social media, hashtags and other news about the debate it is difficult to make some sort of own interpretation. Therefore, I want to share my thoughts on this debate with you. Feel free to share yours.
I will link the presidential debate below, for anyone who is interested in watching. [1]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDKm7feXJDw&t=65s
I find it interesting to see how the media always find ways of provoking people and touching their most triggering points. However, that is what media often do- create discussions and debates between people all over the world. Comedians are also doing their takes on the debate and they are exaggerating the candidate’s personalities. This could also be seen as a gateway towards more mudslinging and media-debates.
Lattanzio, Ryan. Indie Wire. YouTube/screenshot.
So, what can we say about the vice-presidential debate, 2020?
When I think of America and the situation the country currently is in, I cannot stop myself from thinking about the number of jobs that is gone. America, in comparison to Sweden for example, does not have a widespread safety net for workers, or people in general. I thought the debate was going to discuss plans of how people will get their lives and jobs back, but the debate constantly walked away from that and dived into discussions about how bad the other candidate is handling the crisis.
In general, I think the debate was more about what has not been done, instead of telling and promising the American people what will be done. First of all, the pandemic is far from over and second, is this really something two vice-presidential candidates should discuss-what has not been done in a crisis that is far from over? I believe the political angle is abandoned, even is this debate, similar to the presidential candidate-debate.
Both of the candidates deflected upon several questions in the debate and once again, they go back to discussing what the other candidate did not do in the past and in the past months. Mike Pence for example ignored a question about why the death toll in the US due to covid-19, in terms of percentage, is higher than it is in almost every other wealthy country. Kamala Harris had some deflections as well. For example, she did not face the fact that if Joe Biden is elected president, he will be the oldest president in American history, and this could be an issue as this could lead to presidential disability. So, who won and what was actually said in this debate?
Finally, based on my own interpretation, I cannot help but ask again, is this debate even relevant, in the long run, and for the American people? Does it matter who won this debate, and did anyone win? Or was this debate just a gateway and an opportunity to start smaller debates in the media?
If you watched any of the debates, what did you think? Are the presidential debates nothing else than gateways to media-manipulation, triggering and more media-attention?
Reference:
Link to the vice-presidential debate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDKm7feXJDw&t=65s
Photos:
Lattanzio, Ryan. 2020.” Saturday Night Live” Meets David Cronenberg on SNL´s VP Debate Mashup of” The Fly”. October 11, 10.10 am. Indie Wire. Link available: https://www.indiewire.com/2020/10/snl-vp-debate-the-fly-jim-carrey-maya-rudolph-1234592065/
