Reaction to Dietz Lecture

Steve Dietz spoke in his lecture about unscripting the political process. To me this involves breaking down the façade used by politicians and their organizations. By looking deeper into a politician or political organization’s position on issues, artists attempt to discern the true motives behind the words so beautifully composed by the staff writers. The traditional political process is presented in a neat package to the public, with very specific, yet vague pieces of information. They always tell you just enough to get your attention, but not enough to take away the flexibility of indecision. Artists are able to cut through that veil of secrecy and illustrate what they feel is a truer, if not exaggerated point of view on these political subjects. One example of how this can happen is through the use of irony and sarcasm. An easy source of material for satirists, politics provides points that can easily be blown out of proportion or taken out of context to give an image of ridiculousness. In this case, the Billionaires for Bush go around protesting for Bush to be re-elected. They campaign for this because billionaires saw increasingly large tax cuts during the Bush term. The point of the group is to make the public aware that they are getting what seems to be the short end of the stick and essentially the activists are using reverse psychology to discourage supporters of the GOP. By making a stand on a point that a politician like Bush would purposefully keep quiet, the awareness on that issue is raised and can better affect the outcome of the democratic system America attempts to take advantage of.