Edelman: Politicians Would Prefer Generating Public Discussion to Passing Legislation

In chapter six, Edelman states that politicians would prefer generating public discussion to passing legislation concerning various issues that affect the nation (Edelman, 1988). Edelman argues that language is a prominent actor in politics and in this case, it encourages people in different social situations to be able to define others, defines themselves and to define their lives conditions based on a spectacle that usually justifies such life situations. Therefore, language is a very important tool and a kind of creativity that helps all politicians to evoke political realities. Moreover, the Gresham’s Law regarding news prominence explains that if a politician unethically leaks a story that exposes a failure of a certain policy, but the leaked story becomes more reliable to the public regardless of its accuracy (Edelman, 1988). This means that the experienced political world currently relies on things the interest groups can persuade the media to report as well as the experiences such reports might displace. 

According to Edelman, politicians prefer generating public discussion to passing legislation merely because they want to create meaning (Edelman, 1988). Creation of meaning is described by the author as the construction of beliefs about leaders, political events, crises and problems that would challenge or rationalize the existing inequalities. Therefore, politicians like doing this with the aim of mobilizing support and immobilizing opposition. As politicians do this, they as well create intimidation and coercion to help them to examine opposition and resistance in all political systems, and the main tactic they use is an evocation of interpretation that makes favored courses of actions legal as well as reassuring or threatening people to remain quiescent or supportive (Edelman, 1988). Therefore, political language according to Edelman is a clue to the politician’s view of reality at the political time, and this is similar to how the audiences’ interpretation of similar language is a clue to whatever might be a different reality to them. 

Reference 

Edelman, M. (1988). Constructing the Political Spectacle. Chapter Six.