American Politics as Pornographic Politics

 

Thoughts on American Politics as Pornographic Politics

Peter Schultz

 

Try this: American politics is pornographic. Our politics aims at arousal, appeals to our prurient interests rather than at accomplishments. Trump fits into this scheme rather nicely, joining Stormy What’s Her Name as a “porn star!” Ditto JFK and Bill Clinton. Of course, pornographic politics, like pornographic movies or books, is a way of enjoying stimulation while you’re expected to do very little and to have very little to show when you’re done. 👍🇺🇸

 

The GWOT is clearly pornographic, with assassinations providing the stimulation. In fact, stimulation might even be the goal insofar as the wars go on and on and on. And recall this: the pictures of Obama et. al., glued to watching on a screen the assassination of bin Laden, which was we know now as choreographed as any porno movie. Did anyone in that room get off on what they saw, then or later? Did anyone there want to get off then or later? 🇺🇸✌️

And elections! Whoa: all stimulation devoid of almost any significance. Again, all for the sake of maintaining the status quo, meaning the obscenities that characterize our politics.

 

Question: Is this an American phenomenon or a political phenomenon? Methinks that Machiavelli would say it’s a political phenomenon. And Aristotle in his Politics provides some ammunition for it being political by cataloguing instances where sex and sexual adventures led to revolutions or significant political change. 

 

Oh, would that I were still teaching. I would propose a new course: Politics as Pornography! What fun! 

 

Part Two

 

Pornography aims to titillate, to arouse people by means of sex or violence. To do so, pornorgraphy uses sex and violence but the sex and violence isn’t real. It’s staged and if we saw the staging [as was shown in the movie Love Actually], we would not be titillated for aroused. Similarly, porno politics seeks to titillate and arouse by means of events that are staged, just as the sexual and violent acts that constitute conventional pornography are staged. 

 

Why is porno politics appealing? Because it allows controlling elites to create the appearance of political conflict while actually doing nothing more than preserving their power, their status, their notoriety. The political conflict is staged, just as the sex and violence of pornography is staged. But it is titillating, arousing, gratifying to think it real, to accept and even embrace it as if it's real because little is more gratifying than believing you live in a “democracy” where important, even crucial issues are decided by the people. And that is probably as gratifying as believing people are capable of sexual or violent acts that could only be performed by supermen and superwomen. And it is definitely more gratifying, more exciting than believing you are being “played” by elites that control your lives while benefitting themselves at your expense. 

 

Part Three

 

How about more pornographic politics? And Bibi is just another porn star? 

 

I would say they’re repeating the same porn movie. Why? Because it emphasizes how porno politics is titillating and arousing. Unlike porn movies, porno politics lets people think something historical is happening. And, so, with porno politics, people can feel as if they are witnessing and/or taking part in historical events, which makes them feel important. You know, the kinds of things that are analyzed and that books are written about. 

 

So, staged events like elections and even assassinations, like the killing of bin Laden, titillate and arouse in part because they take on historical importance, even though they are for the most part unimportant, having no significant impact on the prevailing situation. They excite, titillate, arouse, but change very little. Think about the assassination of Awlaki, for example. Or think of the Trump presidency or, for that matter, the Obama presidency and ask: Other than preserving the status quo, did either presidency have any significant impact on our society or our politics? 

 

Further, with porno politics, partisans can “get off” when their stars “score,” but the scoring is no more meaningful than masturbatory sex, or sex between “fuck buddies” or as the result of “booty calls.” Clinton got off with Monica; Clinton destroyed a pharmaceutical plant. One is about a meaningful as the other but both titillated and aroused. 

 

So it goes.