Systems of Collective Representation in the 11th Democratic Debate

Systems of Collective Representation in the 11th Democratic Debate

Sophia Markey

With the coronavirus infecting more and more people, the 11th democratic debate was quite different from the others. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders stood at least six feet apart (besides when they elbow-bumped!), and there was no live crowd to interact with. In this post, I will be looking at the role of systems of collective representation in the final democratic debate.

Mast writes in describing systems of collective representation: “In social performance, the discursive goal is to wrap oneself in a metaphorical flag that connotes the narratives of democracy and liberty” (12). Additionally, symbolic codes must be present and understood. Politicians must have a grasp on language and its implied meaning and weight, in order to connect with their audiences and be perceived as “democratic.” Sanders says that “it takes courage sometimes to do the right thing.” This is following up his listings of votes he and Biden took, and how Sanders has supported human rights and other progressive issues even when they were not overwhelmingly popular. Courage is a quality that many Americans see as central to liberty. Biden evokes systems of collective representation as well, when in response to a question about why his message is not resonating with Hispanic voters, he replies that his message is resonating with people because “they know [he is] a democrat with a capital ‘D’ who, in fact, believes that our base of the Democratic Party, which are hard-working men and women, who, in fact, are high school educated, African-Americans and minorities, including Hispanics, but all minorities, suburban women, people who, in fact, have a sense of our place in the world.” Biden not only associates himself with democracy, but also insists that others know this about him as well. Audience members probably all have a different interpretation of the first part of this quote, depending on what values and motives they think constitutes being a democrat. This gives people room to identify with Biden based on their own personal beliefs in the Democratic Party as a whole. However, I think I should add that Biden’s response does not actually answer the question, which asks specifically why Sanders has “won more of the Hispanic vote than [Biden] in several key states so far.” Instead, he attempts to extend his base to reach the Democratic Party as a whole.

Mast also notes how talking points are constructed so that they will be repeated and gain attention in public discourse (12). An example of such a talking point that attracted widespread media attention was Biden committing to picking a woman running mate, saying his cabinet and administration “will look like the country.” This statement then led to curiosity; which woman would he pick? Not only did it start a discussion, but it opened up new ones. Sanders says that “[his] cabinet, [his] administration will look like America,” but he does not fully commit to having a woman running mate. In comparison to Biden’s declarative statement, this seems well-intentioned but less attention-grabbing—few people are quoting this statement after the debate. On the other hand, the public, news outlets, and the media are engrossed in Biden’s potential running mate. Just because a politician is able to construct a talking point successfully does not automatically make them superior, but it is a tactic that can have a lot of influence, especially in today’s world with technology. Both candidates are able to agree on some points in regards to the coronavirus and a handful of issues, but stand in opposition in regards to many more. Thankfully, Sanders and Biden are able to agree that regardless of which one of them wins the nominee, democrats (and all people) must unite to defeat Trump.

Works Cited

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton       Years. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

The Pavlovic Today Staff. “Read: Democratic Debate Transcript, March 15, 2020.” The      Pavlovic Today. https://www.thepavlovictoday.com/read-democratic-debate-transcript-  march-15-2020/

Actors in the 11th Democratic Debate

In Mast’s work The Performative Presidency, he says, “Actors take on meanings in relation to other actors in the drama, and in relation to the settings, plots, and vagaries of everyday life that can be picked up by a video camera” (Mast; 2012). This is to say, that actors can be in control of their meaning, but only to a certain extent. 

Looking at the quote above, I thought about former Vice President Joe Biden and his performance in the 11th Democratic debate. As a former member of the Obama administration, a huge part of his identity as a politician revolves around the events that happened in that era of politics. He constantly references things he did in the Obama administration, and seems to want a return to that era and the policies of those era, rather than the ‘revolution’ that he believes Senator Bernie Sanders wants; “We don’t need revolution, we need to improve the system.” (Biden; 2020). Biden tends to align himself with the past in order to reinforce his authenticity as an actor, providing reassurance to the audience by basically saying he will bring the United States back to ‘better times.’ 

On the opposite side of this, we see Senator Bernie Sanders, who wants to usher in an era of change for the United States. Sanders is often criticized for his identity as a democratic socialist, as well as his ‘radical’ policies and ideologies surrounding things such as healthcare and higher education. Sanders, like Biden, also calls on the past to reinforce his authenticity by recalling his path as a politician and giving examples to show that he has been consistent in his policies and beliefs from the get go. In this debate, Sanders even calls out Biden for changing his stance on higher education to match what Bernie had been advocating for long before it became a mainstream and accepted idea, and in this questions Biden’s authenticity; “Leadership is about having the guts to take on the unpopular vote.” (Sanders; 2020). Sanders has demonstrated throughout his career that he is willing to stand up for what is right, even if he is the only one standing for it, and this is something that reinforces his authenticity as a politician because it comes across as genuine and truthful. People want a leader that they can believe in, and Sanders’ honesty and consistency really persuades the audience to put their trust in him to bring about the change he speaks so passionately about.

“‘Authenticity’ is prized, but it is an interpretive category, not an ontological state.” (Mast; 2020). There is no ‘secret recipe’ for authenticity, there are a multitude of factors that can affect the way an individual actor is perceived. In the democratic debate, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden both demonstrated different tactics to try and convey a sense of ‘authenticity’ to their audience. While both called on the past to do this, some might say that Biden’s constant references to his time in the Obama administration show a lack of ability to have his own vision of what the American people want; not Obama’s vision. Sanders on the other hand, has a unique vision for the future of America, and his past as a politician reflects this vision and shows that he has stayed true to his views.

Works Cited

Anon. 2020. “Part 1: Entire CNN-Univision Democratic Debate - CNN Video.” CNN. Retrieved May 11, 2020 (https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/03/16/part-1-entire-cnn-univision-debate-washington-dc-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/full-cnn-univision-democratic-debate-march-15-2020/).

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton 

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Blogging Burden Group Discussion: Let's talk about the last debate!

Hello there! Welcome to the second and final Blogging Berden big discussion! Click the link above to watch us talk about what we've learned! If you have any questions of your own please leave a comment! For now please enjoy our video by clicking the link above!

Audiences 11th in the Eleventh Debate

In the eleventh Democratic National Debate we are presented with the final two candidates in the democratic party: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. This debate took place within the first week of the CoronaVirus’ recognition as a national pandemic and would set a different tone for this debate than any that came before it.

            I will be looking at this debate from the perspective of Mast’s second element of cultural performances, audiences. Audiences are one of Mast’s more self explanatory components of cultural performances as he explains that, “Scripts and performers must communicate culturally familiar content, messages that audiences can interpret and understand. Audiences interpret performances in variable ways” (Mast 11). When it comes to political cultural performances in America, Mast explains that the audiences that exist reflect the two party system that our country operates under, and that a third audience of moderate or undecided voters sit in between these two audiences.

            In the eleventh Democratic Debate both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are speaking to this preexisting base of the Democratic party; however, in many ways Bernie Sanders represents Mast’s fourth audience though, which is composed of audience members that usually belong to a third party or ‘emerging’ party. Bernie Sanders represents the progressive left wing and democratic socialist movements in America and while these sections of the political spectrum technically exist under the umbrella of the Democratic party many people consider them to be an entity that are radical and exist unto themselves.

            Both Biden and Bernie attempt to appeal to this centerist/undecided audience of voters in America during the eleventh debate by using two culturally familiar scripts of existential danger. The fist threat they discuss is the coronavirus and Joe Biden compares the pandemic to a foreign attack on American soil explaining that we need to come together as a nation around a candidate that can properly lead us through this virus. The second existential threat that the candidates brought up was the presidency of Donald Trump. In both cases the candidates hope to get their audiences to agree with the message that they were putting out in spite of what people thought of the actual messengers (Bernie and Biden). Both candidates explicitly said that if the other were to win that they would throw their full support behind them and campaign on one another's behalf. It is clear that both candidates, while vying for the candidacy, want to make it clear that there are larger threats to our collective well being than either of their campaigns and that by putting out this message they could corral audience members with themes of unity and warning of the urgency of change in the upcoming 2020 election.

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

The lack of Mise-en-scene and Cultural performances in the 11th democratic debate!

Today, The Pavlovic. "Read: Democratic Debate Transcript, March 15, 2020 ::." Read: Democratic Debate Transcript, March 15, 2020 :: The Pavlovic Today. https://www.thepavlovictoday.com/read-democratic-debate-transcript-march-15-2020/.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back! In this final edition of Blogging Berden I will be discussing the 11th and final democratic debate which took place at CNN studio in Washington without any audience. This was done in order to reduce unnecessary risk of transmission of the coronavirus.


How the coronavirus affected cultural performances Mise- en- scene.


John Mast in his work, The Performative Presidency, introduces two elements of performance known as cultural performance and mise-en-scene. Cultural performance can be described as being, “the material environments from which actors project their meanings. The material objects that surround the actor, from the stage and setting to props and costumes, all contribute to the meanings a performance will project” (Mast 2012). An example of this can be seen across all debates through the use of suits and pins which each candidate wears in order to look more presidential. On the other hand Mast describes mise-en-scene as being,” the ‘spatial and temporal choreography’ or dramatic components to the political performance.” (Mast 2012). What this entails is that there are certain ways in which a political performance can be portrayed in order to get a certain reaction out of the audience. A common example of this is how the candidates all come out at the beginning of the debate shaking hands. However, due to the coronavirus spreading across the U.S. there was an utter lack of them within this debate. The coronavirus got rid of the crowds along with the need to appeal to an audience which made for a much more relaxed environment compared to the previous debates.

More of a discussion than a debate! Iconic images trying to shine through during hard times.

During the debate there were no handshakes and no candidates came out running saying hi. The camera simply pans to the two candidates remaining (Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders) and the debate begins. In this debate there was no yelling and no spectacle. There were just two men talking sternly at each other about how to best deal with the coronavirus. In the past I talked about how powerful an audience can be in order to expand your base. Here, the lack of one made it very hard for both candidates to really get their message across. In all of the prior debates Biden and Sanders used the audience and the choreographed nature of the debates to their advantage. In the 11th debate with no real way to convey their message with pathos they both seemed very dry in a way which to me almost hurts their iconic image. To refer to Barry Schwartz, a Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College, wrote in his piece, “Iconography and Collective Memory: Lincoln's Image in the American Mind,” regarding the importance of understanding the power of image and Iconic statues and figures, that the “collective memory that centers on the active construction and interpretation of common constructive and interpretive activity-generalizable from the present case-is undertaken by those who care more about the past than do others, wish to accurately represent it, and are offended by what they take as its distortion. Some commemorative matters, like  the present one, mobilize relatively few.” (Schwartz 1991). As I said before Schwartz conveys that there are multiple lenses even with a collective consciousness and depending on our lens we may interpret things differently. However, with no audience in a way voters on the fence will have a harder time knowing how to feel because in a way both Biden and Sanders used the audiences’ cheers within the debate in order to show that their plans are the best for democratic voters. With no real easy lens to look through many on the fence voters are at a loss.

What this all means for my analysis of Bernie’s fall.

At this stage in the race Biden was ahead of Sanders by over 100 delegates and in order to have a fighting chance Sanders really needed this debate to go in his favor. However, with the lack of any sort of mise-en-scene, Sanders had a hard time conveying his iconic message as there were no cheers to back him and the only other voice in the room (Biden’s) constantly undermined Sanders views on healthcare and how he would deal with the pandemic as a whole. Sanders needed to get rid of the image that he and his supporters had gained over the course of the last two debates and simply the irregular nature and lack of formality really worked against him.

Beyond blogging Berden what this all kind of meant to me…..

I feel like we’ve gone on such a long journey with blogging Berden. Even though it’s only been a month it’s sad to see that it’s the end of the road. But I have definitely learned a lot from this experience. I have learned that actors play a key role in forming an iconic image. I have also learned how a candidate's audience and the overall systems of collective representation can mess with or even tarnish a politicians' Iconic image. Even now as I look at the role of cultural productions and mise- en- scene, it’s clear to see that studios like CNN and ABC also play a key role in sustaining and even empowering a politicians’ iconic image by giving them a platform which many voters trust in order to promote themselves.

I have learned a lot about the performative nature of politicians. I have also learned that a politician's job is never over. They must always keep up their iconic image and they must always work to find ways to make themselves heard. In a way we are all actors working to gain the trust and love of our peers and we are constantly seeking the validation of others through awards and positions. In a way I feel like we do this in our lives to make ourselves feel like “special cases” but we are really not. We all come and go and that’s just life. We look for some sort of meaning through others by supporting candidates that we feel have our best interest at heart but it’s just scary to know that in the end people are just people and one day it’s going to be our time. I guess in a way that’s why people say that you should treat every day as a blessing. Because the best way to enjoy life is to be the best person you can be and that’s by performing and trying to find what really is your best self. The performance of life is fascinating, but when you draw back the curtain what do you see? The world is going through a time where I feel performance has truly taken a back seat. That we are at a time where acting really does nothing and we are all forced to sit at home and feel time pass.

 I am not sure where I am going with this but I am glad I am here at this moment. I want to thank you all for being here on this journey with me and again I hope life hasn’t been too rough during these trying times. This is a very sad end for Blogging Berden but I am glad I got to be here for the ride. See you next time folks…… wherever that may be! :)

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton
Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Schwartz, Barry. "Iconography and Collective Memory: Lincoln's Image in the American Mind." The Sociological Quarterly 32, no. 3 (1991): 301-19. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1991.tb00161.x.

Today, The Pavlovic. "Read: Democratic Debate Transcript, March 15, 2020 ::." Read: Democratic Debate Transcript, March 15, 2020 :: The Pavlovic Today. https://www.thepavlovictoday.com/read-democratic-debate-transcript-march-15-2020/.

Understanding the Eleventh Democratic Debate Through Social Power and Iconicity

On March 15th, 2020 Former Vice President Biden and Senator Sanders met for their first one on one debate in the 2020 democratic debate cycle. In a predictable fashion the debate started with the then “threat” of the coronavirus. Bumping elbows and avoiding skin contact the two men took to their distanced podiums and began a harsh critique of President Trump’s handling of the global pandemic; each making themselves seem as though if in power they could stop the spread. What image does that put in the viewers head?

It seems like a pretty heroic idea to me, another old white man who has the answer; however, for some the condensated collection of symbols used by the candidate paints together an iconicity that appears hopefully. Both Bernie and Joe used their rhetoric in discussing the pandemic to appear as though they could have been the saviors we needed to stop the furthering dire situation. I believe these tactics are extremely influential to both swayable viewers and already devoted followers. This idea of iconicity coupled with both candidates social power is what truly gives both Biden and Sanders the influence and persuasion needed to take the nomination. Importantly, social power is unequally distributed like all forms of power and stem from social performances in which they are enabled and constrained accordingly (Mast, 13). And the access one has to the various forms of social power completely alters the size, scope, and reach of their performances; in this analysis while both men are on the same stage their audiences are as different as they can be while still staying within the democratic party (although both stretch that definition). The effectiveness is determined by their own charisma and authority, not by the fancy stage or flashing CNN graphics behind them. They paint their own image with an aesthetic surface that denotes and connotes moral depth together (Lecture Notes, 4/23/20). By the effective use of social power the candidates can transform themselves into the icon they wish to be perceived as. Both Biden and Bernie should work to develop themselves with iconicity because icons are largely fundamental in communicating and experiencing public life (Lecture Notes, 4/23/20).

As performers, Biden and Bernie are subject to contingencies and must be prepared to handle them. The debate moved past Covid-19 and transformed into one of the least entertaining debates of the season. Slandering each other as liars and ineffective rolled on until Biden announced and promised his Vice-President, if nominated, would be a woman. A calculated move in my opinion, Biden worked to alter his use of social power and iconicity to appeal to the broader audience and create the notion of equality within his campaign. The rest of the debate was well scripted and quite predictable with topics like climate change, gun control, free college, and of course the Iraqi War that is never left out of any good political debate.

In my own assertion, as this is the last post, I worry for the future. In looking at several pieces of cultural pragmatics and iconicity it feels as neither candidate provides enough of the right qualities to realign a disenchanted America and a fragmented democratic party. It is more than the presidency and even politics. The future of liberalism feels as though it is in jeopardy and now more than ever we need a candidate who understands this pressing notion and will address it, correctly. Therefore, the practices and elements we learned throughout this course must become real, and I hope more than the 20 odd so of us in this course understand the same fundamentals we do and can apply them into the necessary institutions that can make a difference.

Citations Mast, Jason L. 2012.

The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press. Lecture Notes, Courtesy of Professor Villegas, 4/23/20

Systems of collective representation within the 10th debate... is this where Sanders falls and Biden rises?

"Sanders, Biden Camps Clash over Arizona Debate Format." POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/07/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-arizona-debate-123467.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back! In this edition of Blogging Berden I will be discussing the 10th democratic debate which took place on February 25, 2020 in Gaillard Center, Charleston, South Carolina.

Collective Representation within the 10th debate

In a previous post about the 8th debate, my peer Isa Blankers brought up an interesting point made by John Mast that candidates tend to metaphorically wrap themselves in a flag in order to connect to  “the narratives of democracy and liberty” (Mast 2012). Biden and Sanders are no exception to this and in their own ways even in this debate attempt to appeal to Democratic voters through tapping into their beliefs on key domestic and foreign issues. The debate on February 25th, however, presented something that was unheard of before this point: Joe Biden on the offensive. Specifically as an actor, Biden in some way or form always found a way to make each question work in his favor or work against one of his opponents.

Biden on the offensive Bringing up Gun Control

One major issue which involved both candidates was the issue of gun control within the United States. When Gayle King asked Joe Biden the question, “every day in our country, over 100 people die from gun violence. You all have plans, I know, on this stage, to address the gun crisis. But Congress has not been able to pass major gun legislation in a quarter of a century. And just think about this, in those 25 years, we've had Columbine, Newtown, Parkland, Las Vegas. We could go on and on.” (King 2020) Biden immediately responded by bringing up the fact that gun violence,  “has caused carnage on our streets, 150 million people have been killed since 2007” (Biden 2020) He then added that Bernie was directly responsible for these deaths since he voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability. Biden plays on the collective consciousness toward gun violence while also slamming his opponents' iconic image by making him seem directly involved in the deaths of so many lives. This was one of the many hits Bernie took that night and it was clear that these attacks from all sides were starting to get to him and his campaign.

Why Collective Memory is a powerful tool 

Barry Schwartz, a Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College, wrote in his piece, “Iconography and Collective Memory: Lincoln's Image in the American Mind,” regarding the importance of understanding the power of image and Iconic statues and figures, that the “collective memory that centers on the active construction and interpretation of common constructive and interpretive activity-generalizable from the present case-is undertaken by those who care more about the past than do others, wish to accurately represent it, and are offended by what they take as its distortion. Some commemorative matters, like  the present one, mobilize relatively few.” (Schwartz 1991) Schwartz conveys that there are multiple lenses even with a collective consciousness and depending on our lens we may interpret things differently. In relation to the debate when Biden calls out Sanders holding him accountable for the 150 million deaths, he is directly attacking Sander’s Iconic image through the topic of gun control by using our shared understanding that these deaths should have been prevented. So linking Sanders to these deaths makes it seem like Sanders failed as a leader, thus making him seem like a weak candidate.

The Downfall of Sanders and why Systems of collective representation explains his loss 

Biden attacking Sanders in this debate was not the first time his image has taken a hit. Almost every candidate in some way or form has used some issues in order to take a jab at Bernie’s reputation. In my first post on this blog I talked about Sanders as if he were this impeccable actor who embodied the very idea of what he fought for. However, as I have looked further and further into these debates I can now see that this never really changed. Sanders as a political actor seemed to be flawless. However, he was constantly being made the villain on stage by his fellow democratic candidates. This really took a toll on his image as a whole. Through this debate and the last, Sanders’ iconic image was constantly put to the test when each candidate called him out. Over time this made Sanders and his base seem problematic and not presidential. Sanders’ image was tarnished in such a way that made people not want to side with him simply because it was “too risky.” From his stances on health care all the way to his smallest policies, these last two debates made Sanders seem as if he was bad for the American people. To put it plainly it’s become clear that Sanders began to lose steam, not because of his own passion but because every candidate around him made him seem as if he went against the very foundation of America and the democratic party.

My predictions for the final debate
In this final debate I believe we will see the effects of all the things I have talked about up to this point. After this debate, Sanders began to fall as more and more candidates began to endorse Biden. It's clear to see that democratic voters in their collective beliefs were truly the cause of Sanders’ downfall and I think that the next and final debate will be proof of that.

Citation

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton
Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

"Read the Full Transcript of the South Carolina Democratic Debate." CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-carolina-democratic-debate-full-transcript-text/.

"Sanders, Biden Camps Clash over Arizona Debate Format." POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/07/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-arizona-debate-123467.

Schwartz, Barry. "Iconography and Collective Memory: Lincoln's Image in the American Mind." The Sociological Quarterly 32, no. 3 (1991): 301-19. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1991.tb00161.x.

The Role of Actors in the 9th Democratic Debate

In the introduction of The Performative Presidency, by Jason L. Mast, an actor is named as one of the six elements of cultural performance. Mast writes: “Actors control their own meanings through their speech and comportment, but they are never fully in control over their entire semiotic domain. Actors take on meanings in relation to other actors in the drama, and in relation to the settings, plots, and vagaries of everyday life that can be picked up by a video camera” (10-11). It is up to the actor’s performance to sway an audience one way or another, and it is important to keep in mind, as Mast notes, that “[a]udiences decode what actors have encoded  (Hall 2005 [1980])” (11). Therefore, actors are often cognizant of how an audience might decode and in turn perceive a statement or in this case, debate performance. In this post, I will be looking at Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders as actors in Las Vegas in the ninth democratic debate.

Throughout this debate, Joe Biden repetitively uses the tactic of bluntly distinguishing himself from the other candidates on the stage. Following up Bernie Sanders’ points on healthcare, Biden waves his hands a bit and says confidently, “Hey, I’m the only one on this stage who actually got anything done for healthcare.” He precedes to criticize the lack of explanation as to how people will pay for Sanders’ proposals. As an audience member, I see this as Biden prompting the audience to decode his statement as “I am experienced and level-headed. You can trust me.” I’m not saying that the whole audience trusts him, but that is the image of himself that he seems to be sculpting. He later points out that he is the only one of the candidates who has beaten Mitch McConnell. However, this specific point is undermined by Elizabeth Warren who calls out Biden’s claims and references a quote of Biden saying that he hoped McConnell would get re-elected, to which Biden retorts that this was taken out of context. Warren reminds the audience that McConnell “stole a Supreme Court seat from the Democrats.” The audience then erupts in support of Warren, and the camera cuts to a wide-eyed and exasperated looking Joe Biden. This camera work also plays a role in the performance and how viewers at home are shaping their view of the candidates. When Biden gives the impression that he is flustered or unable to form a response, he is seen as weaker on the stage. Overall, he maintains a collected composure with some instances of confusion or puzzlement.

While Sanders has plenty of experience and a history in politics, he takes a different approach as an actor. Sanders continuously restates his stances in a way that might be perceived as redundant, but paints him as a constant and trustworthy candidate who will not flip flop on important issues. When Sanders’ health is called into question, he responds that he has addressed his medical history and is releasing health reports. Doctors, he says, have affirmed his fitness and strength to lead the country. Sanders maintains his assertive tone and unwavering voice in his response, making it hard for the audience to doubt his mental sharpness. In response to a question about the climate crises and keeping places such as Las Vegas and Reno “livable,” Sanders reiterates that he wants an entire ban on fracking, and one of the moderators comments on this, hinting that it might be too radical of an action to appeal to enough people. However, Sanders retorts, reminding the audience that “this is a moral issue” and that leaving a livable planet for America’s children and grandchildren is “more important than the profits of the fossil fuel industry.” In this case, the moderator assisted in cementing Sanders’ values as an actor, reaffirming authenticity and the belief in what is right as opposed to what is moderate enough to gain support. In a sense, Sanders is able to act out authenticity on the spot in front of his audience, in the act of maintaining his priorities. 

In some ways, Biden is successful as an actor; his answers are noticeably more direct in this debate. By separating himself from the group, Biden attempts to elevate himself from his competitors and imply that he is just on another level in terms of skill set and experience. Yet his performance falls short in many ways, as he relies on what he assumes has already been established, and his side comments and calm (in comparison to Sanders) attitude can be seen as either a comfortable politician or one that is not trying hard enough. Sanders’ demeanor is many times the exact opposite. He excites the crowd and demands the attention of the audience. Even those who don’t like him find it difficult to turn away. Sanders’ commitment to the working class and ethical standards that he holds himself and others to effectively earns support and portrays him as reliable. 

Works Cited

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton    Years. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

NBC News. “Watch the Full NBC News/MSNBC Democratic Debate in Las Vegas.” Accessed Feb. 20, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZkV0ISxcQY.

Authentic Actors Debate #9

            Looking at the ninth Democratic Presidential debate we are brought to Las Vegas where Bernie Sanders had been surging in the polls after a recent Iowa caucus win and some stumbling from both the Biden and Warren campaigns along the presidential trail. Mast explains that, “Actors take on meanings in relation to other actors in the drama, and in relation to the settings, plots, and vagaries of everyday life that can be picked up by a video camera” (mast 11) In the ninth debate we saw that the actors or rather, candidates, in the ninth debate would be defined by their reactions to the emergence of Mike Bloomberg as a candidate and the opportunity he presented to these actors to redefine their own images under the glowing light of positive relativity to the former New York Mayor.

            We can start by looking at Joe Biden’s performance to analyze how the former Vice President made use of the new actor (Mike Bloomberg) to reshape how he was perceived by a national audience. Mast explains the authenticity is prized in actors, but isn’t inherent to any one person rather it is something that is interpretative and can be shaped by political posturing. In this campaign the political values of the democratic party had been dragged to the left by progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and therefore redefined what it meant to be a Democrat; however, because these policies also were focused around social and economic equity the political trait of authenticity started to become aligned around candidates level of support of these more progressive ideas. This party reposturing left Joe Biden fairly far to the right when it came to his policy and left him looking out of touch and inauthentic when it came to his calls for political change, but with Mike Bloomberg entering the fray as essentially a billionaire republican Joe was given a golden opportunity in the ninth debate.

            Biden, along with the other candidates, attacked Bloomberg on everything from his failed stop and frisk policies (racial injustices), to lack of political prowess, and finally his history of sexual harassment and litany of non-disclosure agreements that paid his female employees to keep quite about such instances. Where Biden had been relegated to the position of the older moderate Democrat who was out of touch with the changing tides, Mike Bloomberg allowed for a rebalancing of the playing field. Because Bloomberg was so un-progressive in his platform and because of his history of blatant racial and sexual offenses he allowed for the perception of Joe Biden to shift by giving the Vice President opportunities to call out the blatantly bad billionaire track record that mayor bloomberg had.

            While Bernie mostly stayed on brand in this debate and attacked Bloomberg on par with the amount that other candidates did it just didn’t seem to have the same effect. We already knew that Bernie stood for progressive economic and social justice reform, and as an audience America didn’t need to see Bernie get angry about these issues in relation to Bloomberg in particular to let us know what Senator Sanders stood for; however, with Biden we got to see him take a fiery stance in opposition to Bloomberg that gave off the perception that he was inching closer towards some of the progressive ideals other candidates stood for, which only helped his campaign at the conclusion of this debate.

           

Symbolic Production and Mise-en-scene...What Does it all Mean?: A Deeper Look Into the 9th Democratic Debate

       Symbolic production and mise-en-scene are two important concepts that are introduced to us in the introduction of Mast’s The Performative Presidency. These two elements of performance are critical in being able to fully understand the gravity of the democratic debates. Symbolic production is the way that the physical objects that surround the actor convey and add meaning to their performance. (Mast; 2012)  Mise-en-scene refers to the way that all the elements of a performance are choreographed in a specific way to convey meaning, it is more so about the way that space and timing are utilized in a performance. (Mast; 2012) In this blog, we will be taking a closer look at how Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden’s performances in the 9th democratic debate, and how symbolic production and mise-en-scene played into said performances.   

In terms of symbolic production, the debate starts off with what seems to be a ‘highlight reel’ of all the candidates. Each one seems to be about five seconds long, and it would appear that these clips are meant to communicate the main message of each candidate. In Sanders’ clip, he appears to be at a rally and says, “let us, create the political revolution this country needs.” (Sanders, 2020). Biden’s clip, also appearing to come from one of his rallies, shows him saying, “I can’t do it alone, I need your help to climb that mountain. And together we’re gonna beat Donald Trump!” (Biden, 2020). Both candidates are calling for unity here, but the cause for which they are fighting for appears to be somewhat different, and the choice to use these specific clips in this intro is important to understanding that. Sanders’ goal, like any other democratic candidate, is to defeat Trump—but unlike Biden, it is not his main point when he calls for people to come together. Rather than asking for people to come together against Trump, Sanders asks for the American people to come together for themselves and against the unfair systems of this country. Biden’s message, on the other hand, is one that often specifically calls out Trump and calls for unity against him. He does not want the ‘revolution’ that Bernie calls for, but rather a return to something more similar to the Obama administration, which he often refers to during debates. While these clips are just small parts of a much larger event, the fact that they are in the very beginning and are so short give them an almost iconic feel that can stick with the viewer throughout the entirety of the debate; they make it easy to understand who a candidate is and what they stand for. 

       Following this, we are introduced to the democratic candidates on stage, and behind them is what appears to be a digital display of the white house. In the lineup of candidates, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are directly next to each other in the middle. This all is a part of the mise-en-scene, and it conveys a powerful message about these two candidates and their standing in comparison to the other candidates on stage. Furthermore, it seems to imply almost a direct competition between the two of them that is separate from the general competition on stage. In terms of the way camera angles and the way that Biden and Sanders are displayed while they are speaking, I personally felt there were more isolated shots of Bernie in this debate than the previous one, or shots with him and just one other candidate. This made it so there was more attention directly on Sanders, but perhaps it was also meant to communicate that Sanders is separated from his fellow candidates in terms of policy and his vision for the United States. Biden was displayed similarly to how he was in the previous debate, but also was shown engaging with his fellow candidates more than Bernie did, such as when he had an exchange with Mayor Pete Buttigieg regarding Bloomberg’s disclosure agreements. 

     These debates are large-scale, comprehensive events that have multitudes of meanings attached to them. So, while it may seem like I am only looking at small moments in this blog post, it is important to note that these ‘small moments’ must be perceived and understood in order to truly be able to see the bigger picture regarding the performances of both candidates here. 

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton 

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Anon. 2020. “ The Full NBC News/MSNBC Democratic Debate In Las Vegas | NBC News.” Youtube. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZkV0ISxcQY).

Slander as a System of Collective Representation: 9th Democratic Debate

This post is meant to look at a system of collective representation through a grander scale than just Biden and Bernie, and rather look at the system of collective representation in which they existed during this debate.

The ninth democratic debate was both tenacious and pugnacious. At times it was hard to determine whether the remaining candidates were looking to better their own campaign or if they were there to damage the others. But how much blame do these candidates deserve for their dividing behavior and slander at such a crucial point for both the electoral process and for the state of our nation? Or was this behavior on stage a reflection of what audiences really want. Oftentimes and specifically now, the chaos of actors bantering, audiences deciphering, and the media and several other analysts throwing in their two cents can make these immensely symbolically rooted debates feel shallow and illusory. The politics of today makes it increasingly difficult to find any symbolic meaning, let alone a system of collective representation, and the ninth democratic debate was no exception. 

Defined as a group of symbols and images that share common meaning amongst a group or groups of people, systems of collective representation help us convey both ideas and values while creating social solidarity. In this post I will work to highlight systems of collective representation in the Ninth Democratic Debate from Las Vegas on February 19th, 2020.    

The most notable system of collective representation is unlike the typical systems. Unlike constellations and wedding rings this system is more encoded and perhaps more ingrained into daily life than the previously noted systems. Insults were the most prominent system of collective representation seen that night in Las Vegas. The binary codes of civil society that specify the characteristics of social actors, relationships, and institutions come out of the political universe (Mast, 12). The symbolic world of politics was both ephemeral and lasting, this system represents talking points which are meant to transcend into daily life and be reiterated through conversation. The insults that night in Vegas were certainly meant to carry through the walls of that arena and into the homes of Americans. It was a battle field in which bullets were replaced by words, something that all of us are much more familiar with. 

This system is both complex and simple in that it is an obvious tactic but its implications may be deeper and grander than an audience member may understand. Instead of any candidate trying to create an image of themselves being draped in the American Flag, they fought to make every candidate besides themselves seem as the last person that would drape themselves in the American flag. Characteristic of politics in recent years, it feels the days of kissing babies and shaking hands has transformed into snarky remarks and media slander.

Will this trend continue as a lasting form of collective representation? One would hope the American political scene will work to take on a more positively connoted system.

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton 

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

The Power of the Audience during the 9th Debate.... What is a “Bernie Bro”? By Bijan Khaghani

Figure 1: Sanders' RallyBixby, Scott. "Bernie Bros Are Loud, Proud, and Toxic to Sanders' Campaign." The Daily Beast. January 22, 2020. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-bros-are-loud-proud-and-toxic-to-bernie-sanders-campaign.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to another post on Blogging Berden! Before we begin I want to give a quick shout out to one of my peers on this blog, Eli Rocke, who really got me thinking about what it exactly means to win a debate. Specifically, in our last big blog post (which I highly suggest you go watch if you haven’t!) when I asked the group who they thought won the 8th democratic debate. Eli came in with the answer, “well that depends where you look,” and I found that to be very true! Depending on where we look we will see different results based on where people stand with each candidate and ultimately the kind of audience member. Sanders supporters may say Sanders won by a landslide while more moderate Democrats may say Biden won effortlessly.

The Agenda for Today.

With that in mind, today’s post will be centered around the 9th Democratic debate which occurred in Las Vegas on February 19th, 2020. However, unlike last time I will be focusing more heavily on the Bernie 2020 campaign. Specifically Bernie’s audience, since by that point in the race there were certain supporters of Sanders known as the “Bernie bros” who were tarnishing Sanders' image by attacking his political opponents online.

Who are the “Bernie Bros” and why were they so important by this point in the election?

To give a quick summary on the origins of the Bernie Bros, back in 2016 groups of Sanders supporters began to wage war against anyone who even had a single bad thought about the Vermont Senator or his backers. These individuals would go on to be called the Bernie Bros and were argued as one of the reasons why Hilary Clinton did not win the presidency in 2016. By the time of February 19th 2020, the Bernie Bros were once again in full swing calling out all other campaigns, especially Warren and Biden’s campaigns in every way imaginable. Ultimately, the media deemed that this sort of support was in fact bullying and Sanders has on many occasions stated that those who do and support this sort of online bullying are not truly a part of his campaign. What made Bernie Bros so important during this debate compared to previous debates was that the number of candidates who were running for the nomination was dropping and  it became a question of who is the best leader and base left to beat Donald Trump in the upcoming general election.

What is so important about having a strong base?  (Joe Biden V.S. Bernie Sanders)

To quote Pete Buttigieg during the debate:

-  “Leadership isn't just about policy. I think at least in broad terms, we're largely pulling in the same direction on policy, but leadership is also about how you motivate people to treat other people. I think you have to accept some responsibility and ask yourself what it is about your campaign in particular that seems to be motivating this behavior more than others, because in order to turn the page on the Trump era, we're going to need a president, not just a candidate who can win, but a president who can move us forward.”

As previously mentioned in my last post about Biden and Sanders, according to Jason L. Mast, a global research fellow at Warwick University’s Institute for Advanced Study, “a political actor has the power to give life and communicate their message to an audience by inhibiting their political roles.“ Actors make choices that vary from prescient to poor and embody or speak their symbolic intentions with varying degrees of deftness.” (Mast 2012) However, Mast also recognizes that political actors do not have complete autonomy in how their message is received. Ultimately, the audience has the true power in being able to take in that message and register it within their minds. Though, depending on the kind of supporter they could have different feelings about what is said.

Yağmur Karakaya and the different sorts of Audience members/voters

Yağmur Karakaya, a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Minnesota, wrote about the different types of audience members in his article called “The conquest of hearts: the central role of Ottoman nostalgia within contemporary Turkish populism.” He specifically brings up types such as Spectacle Seekers, Appraising Skeptics, and History Guardians. In this case Sanders supporters fall under Karakaya’s definition of Spectacle Seekers in the sense that they feed into that togetherness and emotional rise which Sanders and his team bring out through his speeches and rallies. Meanwhile, one could argue that Biden supporters are more Appraising Skeptics because they find that Biden has already proved his credibility through his years as Vice President and therefore that his political rallies only serve to paint the image that he is for “the people,” just like Sanders. A leader’s following can build them up and tear them down. While I agree with Buttiegeg’s sentiment that we all need to be accountable for our supporters, at some point the internet is going to be dark no matter how hard we try to stop it. This is frustrating for a candidate like Sanders whose main demographic is young tech-savvy voters who are more capable and therefore likely to engage in this type of behavior.

Could Bernie Bros be the passionate end for the Sanders campaign? The Power and Backlash of KYDSA’s announcement.

Figure 2: KYDSA logo "Kenyon College Young Democratic Socialists of America." Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/KenyonYDSA/.

Yes! Looking at how powerful a base can be, it’s a major set back when your supporters are considered to be this hostile irrational group. Take Kenyon College for an example, around the time of this debate the Kenyon Young Democratic Socialists of America or KYDSA announced that they would support Sanders for the 2020 election. Immediately after this many students on campus felt a grand divide among their peers as after this announcement there became a stigma on campus where if you didn’t vote for Sanders your vote was considered incorrect. I personally know several of my classmates who were yelled at in close corners just because they openly talked about their support for other candidates such as Joe Biden. While it wasn’t the KYDSA’s fault for the social situation at school, what it ultimately led to was many students outside of KYDSA’s circle to consider Sanders’ supporters as crazy, and that ultimately Biden was the logical choice in comparison. The impression that students got of Sanders supporters ultimately led to them believing that Sanders was hostile which ruined his image on campus among common students.

So what does this all mean moving forward?

Figure 3. Settle For Biden shirt made after Sanders dropped out of the race"Settle for Biden 2020 Gift by Kader85." TeePublic. https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/8472266-settle-for-biden-2020-gift eed_sku=8472266D1V&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=AgencyWithin_Shopping_AllDesigns_NonChildSKUs&gclsrc=aw.ds&?ar_clx=yes&ar_channel=google&ar_campaign=9182645456&ar_adgroup=90282973622&ar_ad=415256327458&ar_strategy=search&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1o3n8fOG6QIVCovICh10xAsVEAQYASABEgK9fPD_BwE.

 With Biden as the current Nominee I believe that Biden will continue to face challenges with getting Sanders supporters to follow him. All around social media there are shirts and slogans saying things such as “Settle for Biden,” which ultimately makes him seem like a weaker candidate. What the Democrats need to do is to unite together in these trying times. However, a Biden campaign could divide moderate and young liberal democrats in the general election. Even though Sanders endorses Biden and even though we all would want a party that sticks together no matter the nominee, the truth is voters have the power in painting the image of our political actors and the way we are painting Joe Biden now may lead to another Trump presidency. We must do everything we can to stop that!

Citations

Beauchamp, Zack. "The Raging Controversy over "Bernie Bros" and the So-called Dirtbag Left, Explained." Vox. March 09, 2020. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/9/21168312/bernie-bros-bernie-sanders-chapo-trap-house-dirtbag-left.

"Bernie Sanders Supporters Get a Bad Reputation Online." BBC News. January 28, 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35422316.

"Full Transcript: Ninth Democratic Debate in Las Vegas." NBCNews.com. February 20, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/full-transcript-ninth-democratic-debate-las-vegas-n1139546.

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton

Karakaya, Yağmur. "The Conquest of Hearts: The Central Role of Ottoman Nostalgia within Contemporary Turkish Populism." American Journal of Cultural Sociology, 2018. doi:10.1057/s41290-018-0065-y.

"Settle for Biden 2020 Gift by Kader85." TeePublic. https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/8472266-settle-for-biden-2020-gift eed_sku=8472266D1V&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=AgencyWithin_Shopping_AllDesigns_NonChildSKUs&gclsrc=aw.ds&?ar_clx=yes&ar_channel=google&ar_campaign=9182645456&ar_adgroup=90282973622&ar_ad=415256327458&ar_strategy=search&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1o3n8fOG6QIVCovICh10xAsVEAQYASABEgK9fPD_BwE.

Blogging Burden Group Discussion: What Went down of February 8th.... Let's talk about that!

Hello there! Welcome to the first Blogging Berden's big discussion. Click the link below to watch us talk about what we've learned! If you have any questions of your own please leave a comment and we can talk about it in our next video which will come shortly! For now please enjoy our video by clicking the link below!

Social Power's Role in the Eighth Democratic Debate

Bernie vs Biden

Social Power

In this blog post, I will be focusing on candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden during the Democratic presidential Manchester debate in February, in order to analyze social power, which is one of the elements of cultural pragmatics. Jason L. Mast writes in The Performative Presidency that the six elements are “actors, audiences, systems of collective representation, means of symbolic production, mise-en-scene, and social power” (10). Concerning social power, he goes on to write that “Forms of power are distributed unequally, of course, and social performances are enabled and constrained accordingly. Access to the variety of forms of social power (Mann 1986, 1993) influences the size, scope, and reach of performances, but in no means determines their effectiveness” (13). In other words, Biden and Sanders will each reach some of the same but also some different crowds, yet access is not decisive for productivity. We should make note of the performative means which influence how attempts at gaining social power are perceived. For example, the audience erupting in applause signals to us that the speaker they are responding to was able to reach them and rally their emotions, at least in that moment. Defeating Trump is certainly a goal, but the candidates have differing opinions on the way in which that should be achieved.

Over the course of the debate, Senator Bernie Sanders specifically addresses the working class, the elderly, and the youth, saying in the first ten minutes that “the way we beat Trump is by having the largest voter turnout in the history of this country, and that is appealing to working class people who have given up on the political process, because we don’t believe anybody is hearing their pain, receiving their pain, feeling their pain. And we gotta bring young people in the political process.” Sanders repeats the word pain, and I would argue that most if not all of the audience has felt pain as a result of Trump’s presidency. We can be quick to brush off emotional appeals as ramblings, yet emotions are an important part of politics. While sincerity and authenticity can always be up for debate, it is undeniable that we vote with our hearts as well as our heads. In The conquest of hearts: the central role of Ottoman nostalgia within contemporary Turkish populism, Karakaya acknowledges the role of emotion as he argues that “[r]ather than existing in juxtaposition, cognitions come bundled up with emotions and are meaningful or powerful for this reason (Goodwin et al. et al. 2001, p.15)” (6). Bernie Sanders does embody a populist, but I would like to clarify that populism is not inherently negative, and although there are many harmful examples that we hear about in the media, its effect is determined by the politician employing it. Therefore, in his recognition of a universal sentiment that casts a heavy weight over this nation, Sanders is developing a reasoning behind his campaign and indirectly showcasing his ability to mobilize support, which is present when he says, in discussing insurance companies and healthcare (about twenty minutes later), that “this country belongs to all of us.” 

Joe Biden’s social power is especially grounded in his experience in government, notably as Barack Obama’s Vice-President. He references his experience throughout the debate, and inserts that Sanders does not understand how difficult it is to pass bills, in response to healthcare initiatives. In this sense, Biden portrays himself as an economic voice of reason, which is amplified by his chuckling and grinning during times when other candidates are explaining their plans. While Biden does not refer to specific sectors of the population, Biden's language as a whole does not appear to elicit the same emotional reaction as Sanders’. However, Biden does have the crowd physically participate when he asks them to stand up and clap for Colonel Vindman. He utilizes visualization and active participation again when discussing foreign policy; Biden (towards the end of the first hour) instructs, “Close your eyes everybody. Remember what you saw on television. You saw a woman up there standing up there holding her baby, Kurds saying, please don’t leave us and armed military women and men going out in Humvees with their heads down, ashamed of what they did.” Biden mobilizes emotion here in a different way than Sanders does, as he uses less of an “us” and more of a removed conceptualizing. However, when Biden talks about being a single dad, having a net worth of 0, and having to move due to his own dad not having a job, he is attempting to humanize himself and connect with the crowd. To the point of childcare and America’s education system, he sums up his point by saying, “The fact is, we have to focus on what is at stake here. These aren’t someone else’s children. They’re all our children.” This draws immense support in the form of cheering and applause from the crowd. Joe Biden’s ongoing references to numbers and statistics might paint him as legitimate in the eyes of some, and inaccessible and confusing to others, but his call for social responsibility here breaks down a wall between him and his audience. Both candidates have social power, both use it, and the more we can decode the language surrounding it, the better we will understand each candidate’s platform and supporters.

Works Cited

Hernandez, Monica. 2020 Democratic Presidential debate, parts 1-3. WMUR 9, ABC 7 Feb.       2020, Updated 8 Feb., 2020.  https://www.wmur.com/article/video-2020-democratic-     presidential-debate-part-1/30819551

Karakaya, Yagmur. 2018. The conquest of hearts: the central role of Ottoman nostalgia within             contemporary Turkish populism. University of Minnesota, 909 Social Sciences, 267 19th     Ave Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton    Years. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.