American Politics

Laura Fernandez

POL 205 Writing Assignment #2

“By the public sphere we mean first of all a realm of our social life in which

something approaching public opinion can be formed. . . . Citizens behave as

a public body when they confer in an unrestricted fashion – that is, within

the guarantee of freedom of assembly and association and the freedom to

express and publish their opinions.”^[1]

“In a democracy, people do not live in echo chambers or information cocoons. They see and hear a wide range of topics and ideas. They do so even if they did not, would not, choose to see and to hear those topics and those ideas in advance.”^[2]We understand democracy as a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. It is a form of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges. Within this privileges we include the right of free association, the right of speech. “An association consists simply in the public assent which a number of individuals give certain doctrines; and in the engagement which they contract to promote the spread of those doctrines by their exertions.”^[3]Therefore, we also include in this topic what we call “media” or “social media”, crystallized ultimately in the capability of expressing ourselves in a globalized sphere. Free access to media is nowadays, one of the main bases that a democracy should provide. Just because of the fact media means information itself. Unconfined tons of information floating all around the network. But is this information always accurate, genuine?

In the first instance everything that involves media in a democracy such as press, newspapers, TV shows, news… should mean the link between the governed and the government. The watchdog that the civilians use as a tool to keep an eye on the state decisions. Thus, what be ultimately consider a fourth state.  As Bill Moyers said the role of media in a state of law is to “provide a culture of community conversation by activating inquiry on serious public issues.”^[4]

If media does its job well, on the one hand, should keep the civilians engaged to the obscure and deep confrontations of the political issues; should keep individuals “hooked” to the conjunctions of the ethic exchange of information in public affairs. Just Functioning as interconnected actors in the battle field. Nevertheless media is nothing but uneven. It displeases both sides of the population on their extremes. As Diana mutts defends, “the political television has the potential to improve as well to exacerbate the divide among partisans of opposing views.”^[5]

We should retract to 2016. Where we assist a blooded confrontation between the two main political parties in order to win the elections. To gain that precious throne of “world leader”. What have we exactly perceived? While we were watching this cock fight as spectators “The heightened arousal produced by incivility can make it difficult to process the substance of the exchange.”^[6]Instead of politics sometimes it is more like if we were watching a wrestling combat. The mean reason it is just that this incivility in the media is more appealing to the viewers. At this point “it is important to consider the extent to which the rise of televised political incivility can help explain mass polarization.”^[7]