Political debates have become meaningless. For followers of politics, they used to be something to look forward to. Viewers and listeners could anticipate an intelligent exchange of ideas that could influence the choices of voters and the outcome of decision making by elected officials.
Like so many other things in society, the political debate has turned into theatrics and a sport. Advance news stories of debates are more like those promoting a boxing match, hockey games, and football than an exchange of ideas. Terms like “face-off” and “square off” are more likely to be used than anything to do with democratic political discourse. War terms also get used. Debates are described as “battles” with debaters using “defensive” and “offensive” tactics. Post-debate analysis always includes discussions about who gave a “knock-out punch,” or who won or lost. Seldom is there much discussion about anything of substance that was said in connection with real issues. A debate is not a fight, it is not a battle, and it is not about winning or losing. Politicians and the people who manage political campaigns and parties have lost sight of the need for substance and meaningful discussion and have instead chosen an approach that better resembles a tabloid talk show or entertainment wrestling.
The recent debate between United States presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is an excellent example of how debates have deteriorated. It was difficult to derive anything of substance from it, especially because of Trump’s false, racist, and insidious allegation that Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio are stealing house pets and eating them. Since the allegation was made, there have been increased threats of violence against immigrants in that city and elsewhere in the United States. Clearly, the comment was made to deflect from discussion about real issues such as Trump’s moral character.
It is no surprise that Trump has said he does not want to debate Harris a second time. He does not want to take real issues seriously and proved it when he made a completely ridiculous and offensive allegation which ended up making him look bad. Of course, true to Trump form, he still claimed he won and blamed the debate moderators for causing him undue hardship.
Before anyone smugly thinks Canadian politics has not been subject to a deterioration in debate quality, think again. On Monday, September 16, a CBC headline read “MPs to hold emergency debate after 6 First Nations deaths by police over 2 weeks.” Deaths of Indigenous people during interactions with the police are a serious thing, and action should be taken to ensure such incidents are investigated and to prevent further incidents. All that an “emergency debate” implies is that politicians are instantly going to do something about something suspicious that has happened, when really all they are going to do is have a discussion that is unlikely to yield any instant outcome to investigate the problem with justice and ensure future incidents are prevented.
We need to bring substance back to debate and end its use as political theatre.
