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Palin as Postmodernist

November 23, 2009 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 1 COMMENTS

Interesting article from Inside Higher Ed about how Sarah Palin is changing the way politics is done by manipulating the media in completely new ways:

I'm not sure what Sarah Palin's favorite work of postmodern theory might be (all of them, probably) but she seems to take her lead from Jean Baudrillard's Seduction. Other political figures use the media as part of what JB calls "production." That is, they generate signs and images meant to create an effect within politics. For the Baudrillardian "seducer," by contrast, the power to create fascination is its own reward.

Watching Palin respond to questions about her book Going Rogue (or not respond to them, often enough) is, from this perspective, no laughing matter. She grows ever more comfortable talking about herself. If no more capable of simulating knowledge of public issues, she is getting her story straight, more or less. And this matters. For now she does not have to be accurate, just coherent. She is consolidating her presence, her "brand." Teams of professional ideologists can feed Palin her lines later.

The article, which is roughly a book review for a collection of Palin-related essays called Going Rouge (which I just bought) is worth a read.

via Crooked Timber // Tags: media, politics, postmodernism


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1Ryan

This is a pretty optimistic view of Palin. I'm much more inclined to think she's just a lying sack of shit and due to a bizarre fluke, scratched her way onto the national stage. Now that she's there, she's managed to stay by exploiting the twin forces of mass fascination at this strange creature and the religious right's complete inability to apply critical thinking skills.

She'll probably make waves until 2012, fail to get the nomination, write another book about how those darn liberals just couldn't stand the thought of a hockey mom in the white house, and disappear.

Hopefully.

November 24, 2009