American presidential debate

If I write the phrase "politicians are..", the most obvious next word would be "liars" to finish the sentence. Yet, the American people listen to them and pay great attention to every word they utter and how they utter. That is especially true in the American presidential election. Back in the day, when TV was not invented, these debates used to happen with people listening in on the radio. It was just words delivered through the microphone to an audience that used only the sense of hearing to make sense of it all. A lot less distraction and a lot more focus. Nevertheless, still lies.

Then came the TV and President John F Kennedy was the first beneficiary of it because he swayed the voters with his handsome self and confident style of delivering the argument using a combination of body language and words. Ever since, the debates have been all about who will outsmart the other. In recent years, it has been mostly about who will do more trash talk than the other. But one thing remained consistent, ever since the TV debate started, there has been a great amount of distraction from real issues. Real substance kept diminishing from these talks and things evolved toward developing an ability to sway people, rather than intrigue them intellectually or convince them intelligently. This might as well have been the precursor of the age of the YouTubers where trash talk and lunacy get more views than any serious discussion about any matter.

The American presidential debate finished about half an hour ago at the time of this writing. There are two major events that happened this week: the iPhone 16 was launched and this debate happened. And in both, there was not a single thing that could be substantially labeled as a significant change or something new. It was the repeat of the same boring nonsense: both candidates competed over their attempts to prove their love for Israel. That's the work of the lobbies right there. They literally hold those strings when it comes to the US foreign policy toward the Middle East.

And just like the iPhone users are still going to buy the new iPhone despite having nothing new, I don't believe a single voter was swayed by either camp. The hypocrites will stay with the Democrats and the racist climate denialists will stay with Trump.

Human senses are the least reliable tool to detect the truth of things around us. Yet, it is these very tools that are employed in deciding over the fate of their state and society. The lying politicians lie knowingly and the passive audience while knowing of those lies still sign up to evaluate those politicians based on what they utter and how they utter. The style matters. And that is what makes this debate nothing but a competition over who can make more noise and how fast.

This may be true of all societies around the world but being in America for about 15 years, I can confidently say that the biggest and the highest selling product in America is lies. It is everywhere. Cigarette ads, for instance, depict nothing but lies. But Americans sure enjoy that strong whiff of lies. Kamala says she believes in climate change and Trump calls it a hoax. But here is the fun part: both do nothing about it. So, people say, well Kamala at least acknowledges it. Those on the other side say, well, at least Trump is honest about it. If common sense had not vanished with that meteor that killed the dinosaurs too, then such minds would not be given the power to decide over the future of the strongest nation in the history of mankind.

Lo and behold, serious looking commentators using hand gestures and political jargons talk about who actually won the debate. I have yet to understand the meaning of anyone winning the presidential debate and why it even matters.