Populist politics, gen. Y, and the incessant campaign to [sway] the [votes]

Before we begin, I’d ask you to please watch the following video in its entirety. Or, if you’re feeling particularly languid today, skip to 3.30 and watch from thereon out.

Rudd appealing to ‘gen. Y’ through mediums such as Instagram and Twitter, I could (begrudgingly) handle. Although I did think that the shaving cut fiasco was completely ridiculous and demeans the position bequeathed to him, as well as the entire Australian political system.

This, however, is taking it to a whole new astonishing level. Assange must have been cooped up inside the Ecuadorian Embassy for too long, and what we’re witnessing is the aftermath of a case of slow mental degradation – that, or he’s one of the smartest aspiring politicians out there.

My guess is this is Assange’s cannily timed attempt to distract the public from Leslie Cannold’s very public resignation from the WikiLeaks Party last week, following claims of internal party corruption.

This video resulted in one of those rare moments when I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Assange’s rapping is reminiscent of Dr Craig Emerson’s ‘Whyalla Wipeout’ of 2012.

All of this begs the question, If politicians are resorting to such facetious campaign strategies to ensure their messages are heard, what does this say about [their opinion of] the Australian population?

Any good public relations practitioner will tell you that one of the first rules of communicating is to know your audience.

My reading of this wave of trivialised populist political gimmick is that our politicians believe the Australian populace to be swayed more by the method of delivery than by actual policies.

And I can’t say that I’d entirely disagree – the jury is still out. Anti-politics is on the rise, so perhaps this is how Assange, Emerson and the like propose to rope the population back into their little political microcosm.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to United States President Jimmy Carter, once said:

“We have a large public that is very ignorant about public affairs and very susceptible to simplistic slogans by candidates who appear out of nowhere, have no track record, but mouth appealing slogans.”

And history indicates this to be true.

I just hope that the population has the good sense to vote in an informed manner based upon political merit and policy, as opposed to voting for a candidate or party because of some gimmicky rap video they saw on YouTube.