The "Epic" Battle for President

Politics can certainly be exciting.

But, are we as Americans so starved for action that we have to make this political race a battle of epic proportions?

The media leads us to believe that every political debate is a fight, a knockdown drag-out winner-take-all match of fisticuffs. Each criticism of the other candidate is considered a 'barbed' comment, or that one is 'sniping' at the other. Why can't they simply be discussing important subjects passionately?

Why must every headline you see pertaining to the primaries contain provocative wording? OBAMA VS. HILLARY THE FINAL SHOWDOWN. Duke it out? Epic victories? What the hell is this, football? Professional wrestling?

Now, it's bad enough that the media hooks the public into this divisive battle of epic proportions, but the candidates themselves start to pander to this media coverage. It's a vicious cycle: the media manufactures a battle where there is none, the audience eats it up because it's engrossing (think Greek coliseum warriors), and the candidates, thinking that they have to garner the audience's approval to collect their votes, pander to this character that has been created for them.

The following video is the end result. I couldn't tell if it was satirical at first, but then I realized that it was an ad for the upcoming WWE show. My heart sank.



If the candidates truly want to be taken seriously, and truly care about the issues at hand, then they shouldn't encourage this kind of attention. Because when it comes time for the real issues to be addressed, people aren't going to be listening. They're going to be waiting for the next spectacle.