Image over Morality: A Critique on Modern Politics

As a teenager, I can confidently say that the greatest part of making a new friend is searching up their instagram and clicking the follow button, before maybe swiping through a couple of their posts and sparing a few likes.

This happened to me last week. After talking to somebody I hadn't ever struck up a conversation with, I felt proud to say that I made a new friend. On the bus, I searched up their instagram account and took to my normal routine: follow, swipe, and maybe even scroll through some old posts, just for fun. It was only after multiple views of her account that I even noticed the organizations she had tagged in her bio. 

The organization included programs that helped struggling women, children in the foster care system, and elderly individuals who needed assistance with particular tasks. Upon closer inspection, I learned that these were all amazing organizations built on fantastic morals, but then something crept up on me in my very own mind. Why had I noticed what she presented about herself physically first, as opposed to what she stood for? Today, many people tend to see people as their image as opposed to their beliefs, which to a certain degree isn't a negative trait, until it gets out of hand and we completely lose sight of morality as a whole.

Unfortunately for the United States of America, however, our days of morality were overthrown by pride and creating a virtuous facade years ago. Today, plenty of our most important political figures hide their true selves behind masks of kindness and justice, when behind the mask they believe nothing that they pretend to stand for. Just like I initially scrolled past my friends' values in favor of her aesthetics, the American public often does the same with politicians. We fall for polished speeches, heartwarming campaign ads, and the occasional photo-op with a puppy or a factory worker, without taking a deeper look at who these people are when the cameras are off.

This is not merely a flaw in leadership, but rather a reflection of us. In an age where appearance often overshadows authenticity, we have trained ourselves to ignore the moral value of things in favor of how they look or appear on a surface level. Relentlessly, we scroll, link and repost things we see on the internet, but rarely do we stop and genuinely think about what we are seeing and what it can mean, for the better and for the worse. Behind the scenes, a story can be very different.

Leaders who post about protecting children vote against expanding school lunch programs. Those who tweet about healthcare equity receive donations from pharmaceutical giants. Officials who take proud stances on democracy have been caught attempting to subvert it. These are only a few of the hypocritical actions of those who we deliberately give power, money, time, attention and support. And it only really works because we allow it to. Take for instance Tiktok's very own main event as of right now, D4vid. D4vid, a music artist, is under heavy investigation by authorities after suspected relations with an underage girl, and for possibly causing her murder if not carrying it out himself. Now, this situation in and of itself deserves its own attention, but it is incredibly important that one would get that information elsewhere, and from a known reliable source considering the severity. Before more evidence appeared indicating that D4vid had something to do with the brutal murder of Celeste Riva Hernandez, social media was flooded with defenders of the artist who stated that “he would never even be capable of something like that.” When asked to explain why they thought this, most had no answer whatsoever, but those who did provided the anecdote that “he was too nice of a guy.”

This kind of behavior is ridiculous. Millions of people came to defend a grown man online, whom they had never met, didn't know, and would never really know, when his thoughts were known by nobody besides him. The fact that he was famous and an artistic inspiration led people to believe he was entirely incapable of a heinous crime, despite the overwhelming evidence piled against him. We do this all the time, acting like we know somebody because we know how they seem, and it almost never ends well. And when it comes to politics, this instinct becomes especially dangerous. Because when millions of people vote based on how a candidate “feels” rather than what they’ve done, we end up with leaders who are more focused on maintaining a likeable persona than actually doing the job they were elected to do.

We’re living in a time where perception is reality, and as long as someone’s actions don’t go viral, they don’t exist in the public consciousness. More than anybody else, unfortunately,  politicians know this. That’s why they spend more time curating their brand than legislating, and developing a powerful media team to present them in the best lights while editing their worst moments and decisions to seem like necessary actions. Our politicians and leaders have learned quickly that when gaining the trust of the general public, relatability always trumps reliability.

At the end of the day, the truth is relatively simple: appearances aren't everything, in fact, they are often meaningless. When I was a child, and I’m sure many others will find themselves recalling this as well, I was constantly reminded not to judge a book by its cover. Likewise, we need to learn as a society to not see red white and blue plastered across somebody's car and assume they want the best for our country. Too many of our leaders have learned that all it takes to win support is to look the part. But once they have power, many of them govern with a completely different set of values, ones hidden behind that polished exterior. And if we continue rewarding appearances over action, they’ll keep getting away with it, over and over again.

Sources

Marwick, Alice E., and danah boyd. “To See and Be Seen: Celebrity Practice on Twitter.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, vol. 17,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228576317_To_See_and_Be_Seen_Celebrity_Practice_on_Twitter

Benkler, Yochai, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts. Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. Oxford University Press, 2018,

https://academic.oup.com/book/26406