Sticking to the script

As we know, political life has much in common with acting, but how close is it to a purely thespian career? Prime ministers, ministers, MPs- are they merely actors? Very close to it presumably, because if one assumes they are merely actors then many things become clear. A common enough point of view perhaps, but in our current political turmoil these things are worth repeating. The turmoil isn’t accidental.

Let us devise an imaginary political actor named Creep. Let us assume that Creep doesn’t make much effort to understand his own words when it comes to political discourse. He learns the script but goes no further. Creep has found that there is political safety in the script if he allows for a limited amount of ad-libbing. This is what he does if his script does not fit a particular political scenario – he ad-libs to build bridges back to the script.

We see this all the time in politics where standard scripts seem to have taken over political discourse. The reason is simple enough - standard scripts are the best and easiest way for Creep to navigate through the minefields of political discourse.

Sticking to the script works because it is easy and it is easy because scriptwriters design their scripts to be easily delivered. They know their actors so their scripts require little in the way of mental agility. There is no compelling need for a political actor such as Creep to absorb all the detail behind his scripts.

Maybe this sounds cynical, but for political actors there are advantages to not researching the background to their scripts in too much detail. It keeps the ad-libbing within narrow bounds. Arguments rarely strike home because no great effort is required to deflect them. Creep’s scripts may not fit a particular political argument but he can usually be relied on to ad-lib and deflect awkward arguments back to the script. Creep has no real choice anyway. Creep is an actor.

For Creep, political discourse is easy, no matter how powerful opposing arguments may be. His scripts and acting ability keep things under control. Here we have the dual purpose of the political script - it works well and it makes life easy for political actors. The downside for voters is that many political actors are merely that – actors. Voters cannot vote for or against the scriptwriters.