Monday, September 08, 2008

"Deference" in the news

Just wanted to alert my students to a post on my other blog about a concept we discussed last week, "deference." Apparently the "natural aristocracy" is alive and well, at least in their own minds.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I looked up the definition of "deference" in Webster's Dictionary and the two definitions that were listed were "submission" and "respect."

Neither of these modern definitions really means the same thing as "deference" in the 18th century context, as discussed in class. I'm assuming that means, today many people don't use it in the same manner as it was in early America. I don't know how much Gov Palin knows about Early American terminology, but I highly doubt she intends for her words to be interpreted in their 18th Century context. Of course, I don't know her personally either. She was probably looking for a synonym for respect (or at least her speech writer was).

As for the "natural aristocracy," I'm quite sure many affluent individuals believe they belong in that category.

Jeff Pasley said...

If you read the linked stories, it was actually McCain's campaign manager who used the word "deference." I agree that he was not using it in the 18th-century sense, but then it is not an 18th-century word. Instead, historians and sociologists used it to describe a political culture in which ordinary people usually did not challenge or otherwise seriously question the political leadership of their social superiors. It was the not wanting to be questioned part that I was getting at.

Anonymous said...

I think that the partisan system as a whole uses a method of deference, when used in the sense that political leadership is not challenged. The majority of Americans don't vote for a candidate but instead for a party, and most don't question the issues they stand for, or else they rationalize the reasons why the candidates stance fits their own view.
We tend to think of politicians as our "social superior" and thus vote accordingly, leading to a "deference" to our party of choice, instead of fact-checking for ourselves.
This is obviously a broad and unresearched opinion, but this is what came to mind when reading your definition of deference.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what you really want us to talk about here b/c there is no sense of direction, but...

It is interesting that he used the word "deference" that relates to people following every word of their superior when it comes to political following. We know that he didn't mean to use it in the 18th century term because it wouldn't make sense but at the same time it is almost like a hidden meaning. Also, is it a matter of her not wanting to be questioned by the reporters or in general because she doesn't feel she should have to answer questions from her regarding her and her political background...

Jeff Pasley said...

I was not looking for any particular answer, so speculate away. Like "condescension" that we talked about today, "deference" strikes me as a word that has lost some of its older meaning, but perhaps not all.

Charles said...

I think in this situation she wants to have a fair interview. His choice of words probably could have been better but all in all everybody on both sides reads way too much into these small comments. I think he is just trying to talk about the media being respectful and courteous.

As far as her not wanting to talk about her political record, this is simply not true. She is a candidate with an executive record who is intelligent enough to know that everything she has done is going to be called into question. The simple fact is that people like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are not going to give her a fair interview. She won’t do an interview with word twisting NBC commentators. I can guarantee that she will do Meet the Press with a real reporter of the news. No matter how liberal Tom Brokaw is he will still give a fair interview to Palin. I think we should let her pack her bags in Alaska and get out on the campaign trail full force before we start saying she is afraid of the media.

The gloves have come off in this election and the interesting thing is that Senator Obama has to fight it out with the VP nominee of the GOP. The top of the Dem ticket is fighting it out with the VP of the Rep ticket and the press but not so much with McCain. Palin does not feel the need to fight it out with the press like Obama is doing with Hannity. She is going after the Democrats and not after whatever commentator wants to take the gloves off and battle it out with her. It is more child-like to have this Obama-Hannity type of banter with the top of a ticket going after a political commentator rather then talking about actual policy. I believe this comment of “respect and deference” is more directed at commentators with outside agendas rather than true reporters.

For the record Palin has talked to the media and very intelligently about energy I might ad. As you can see from the interview she knows her information and has no problem answering the questions of a true reporter. It is very recent she mentions Obama and Biden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAYPxIJSDg0

Jeff Pasley said...

"Cheese"'s comment was very well written, but veers somewhat into advocacy. That is fine but I would prefer to see such material on the other blog that is not as closely connected to the class. I had meant the original post more as a pointer to the posts over there.

Trying to be as neutral as I can, let me just say, beware of the Orwellian language where "a fair interview" means "avoids potentially damaging questions."

I posted a much longer answer at http://www.common-place.dreamhost.com/pasley/?p=405 .