John Doyle, who has written insightfully about television for many years at the Globe and Mail, has a succinct explanation for the phenonema that is Sarah Palin. Namely, this is reality-TV run amok.
As he says,
“What’s happening with the Palin story is what has happened over and over again on U.S. TV over the past 20 years. Ordinary, working-class people, sometimes startlingly inarticulate and with messy personal lives, are thrown into the TV spotlight and, by being ordinary – bartenders, truck drivers, hairdressers and janitors on Survivor or Big Brother – they are a good bet for being compelling on TV.”
And compelling TV can make a big difference in elections.
It’s a good article to read, and Doyle is worth reading on any topic.
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