Wow! Did you see that?!

In the "attention economy," you don't need to be right. Or honest. Or wise. 

You need to grab attention. 

Today's guest post author Gerald Murphy takes on a tough task. He says the backward leap by the Philadelphia Eagles' running back Saquon Barkley was a bad idea. A bad idea? But it was great TV, a spectacular moment of athleticism. Murphy grants that, but the point is to win games over a long season and win a championship. Murphy analogizes Barkley's play to the current state of politics. Barkley's spectacular moment draws attention, but it wasn't smart football.

Here it is on YouTube, replayed three times in 30 seconds: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsRUg_012yE

Donald Trump -- amid all his manifest faults -- understands and takes advantage of the media environment of this era far better than anyone else in American politics. The winner is the person who dominates public attention. That person gets his message out. That person asserts his own facts and shapes the narrative.

This is the new media and information world. A Democrat does not need to be a narcissistic, corrupt authoritarian to compete with Trump. It need not be like-to-like competition. But a Democrat needs to be able to grab attention, ideally with ideas, policies, and a delivery that resonates with Americans. It isn't a "Meet the Press" world anymore.

Murphy is a retired high school English teacher and a playwright who has had dozens of short plays produced for school and church groups.

Gerald Murphy

Guest Post by Gerald Murphy                     

A great leap backward.

In case you missed all the hyperbolic coverage of running back Saquon Barkley before, during and after the Super Bowl, Saquon made a memorable play for the Philadelphia Eagles in a game earlier this season against the Jaguars. Here’s how one TV viewer reacted: “Been watching football since the late 60's. I have seen it all until today. A backward no-look jump over a defender!? Freakiest move I have ever seen."

 

The video of this play has gone viral. Pretty much anyone interested in sports, any sport, will have seen this play, probably numerous times.

 

My thoughts on this? Nice move, Barkley. However:

   1. It only gave you about one more yard of forward progress.
2. It left your body open to back-breaking tackles that could have ended your career and hurt the team.
3. It was the kind of stupid move that impressionable young players will attempt to duplicate at their peril.
4. It far overshadowed your truly impressive runs which led to huge gains and touchdowns.
5. Like slam-dunks in basketball and bicycle-kicks in soccer, this is a hotdog move that keeps young athletes from working on more practical skills.
6. I suspect Barkley himself would prefer people forget about the damn move.

 

Unfortunately, the flash-in-the-pan viral moment not only hogs all the attention in sports but is also currently dominating the political spectrum. It isn't enough to be an effective and reasonable politician. You need shock and awe to get noticed. You need to throw out a Nazi salute. Why not insult European leaders in Munich? Why not use dog whistles to advance racial slurs? And calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists makes for wonderful headlines. 

 

The goal is to do anything that gets your face and your right-wing message out to the public. You need to do a political version of Barkley’s double flip to amaze the body politic. Bring on the trapeze acts, the sword swallowers, the lion tamers. And it doesn’t matter if you get caught lying. All that matters is the glitz and the glam. Isn’t that why the Roman emperors decided to provide their citizens with circuses? 

 

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