Reach Out And Elect Someone By Neil Postman Summary

In “Reach Out and Elect Someone”, Neil Postman highlights the changing world of politics. Postman argues that today’s generation focuses more on politicians’ images rather than the facts and morals of the political party. Political candidates are being sold, like products, to the public through the use of television commercials. Politics are now being compared to entertaining spectator events: sports and show business.

Voters’ pick as to who they feel is the best candidate leans heavily towards the candidate whose face they have seen most often on television. Politician commercials are created solely to get the candidate’s face out to the public. Commercials are also geared towards making the voter feel valuable. Influenced by capitalism,

the relationship between the elected candidate and the voter plays a key role in wining an election. Voters are no longer concerned with the well-being of America as a whole; they are now obsessed with their own individual wants and needs. The chosen candidate is the one that will benefit his or her own economic interest the most. Not the candidate that best fits the position.
A politician does not have to be the best candidate to win an election; they just have the best salesperson to the public.

If the public is familiar with a candidate’s face there is a better chance they will vote for them instead of the opposing candidate. Postman explains how hearing a candidate’s name and seeing their face is more valuable than hearing where they stand on important issues.

In the television world, big issues are solved in a matter of seconds. Viewers are led to believe that their concerns about issues will be solved just as quickly. Candidates use political commercials to manipulate their audience to believing this false assumption. Although it seems like a quick fix in the commercials change does not occur overnight. Voters want the easiest, quickest solution to their personal social and economic struggles. So the candidate with the easiest and quickest solution gets their vote.

Most politicians use a type of propaganda called plain folks to present themselves as more relatable to the audience. Plain folks propaganda acts as a tool to lower the status of a politician to the level of the everyday American. On political commercials, candidates are rarely seen in full three-piece suits sitting in their office. They are dressed in casual citizen attire in a public environment. Voters choose the candidate they feel is most like them. Politicians portray themselves as a common American who holds a position that gives them the power to make major changes in the economy that will benefit

everyone.
In today’s society, the public is only interested in what is going on in the present day. Voting Americans view the past as irrelevant and not even worth remembering. It is obvious they do not care about the future either. If they did they would not let a simple image of a candidate sway their vote. In the days of Abraham Lincoln, issues matter. From the days of Ronald Reagan to the present day, image has become more important to voters.
The changing world of politics is drifting from issues and morals to catchy slogans and familiar faces. Clarity, honesty, and excellence are no longer characteristics that describe political campaign platforms. Attractive, photogenic, and charismatic are better descriptions of recent politicians. Politicians have transformed from being just well known individuals to celebrity status. Image is everything in today’s society. Television is rapidly being replaced with the Internet. Let’s see how politics change within the next few years.