Pie charts and political psychology, Race and demographic

I was reading an article in the Sunday edition of the Noo York Times today called - 'Race and the Race - A Fault Line That Haunts the Democrats''. This article interested me because I have been interested in the historical shift in loyalties of Southern voters since the civil rights era. However, apart from the basics, there was little detail regarding the gruelling Democrat Primary seasons of 68 and 72 and the aftermath of civil rights era.

I saw a documentary once on the 68 DNC convention that was fascinating in that it showed the sense of desperation that surrounded the political scene in that era. People got down in the streets back then and the voting and violence that surrounded it seemed to come from closer in the heart. Maybe the difference was that the Vietnam war had dragged on for 9 years at that point, 9 years that elapsed concurrently with unparalled social change. There has been a siesmic shift in political activity and thinking since those heady days of optimism mingled with bitterness. Back then, people watched the news together. If the revolution were televised today, half of us would be watching CSI or Southpark, separated from the action by 20 or 50 channels.

When I watch the news, I am struck by the remarkable Americanness of it all. The closest thing to the method and the commentary used by the pundits are the sports channels that precede the news channels on the dial. One sees an abundance of pie charts with an emphasis on percentages and technical terms. When these methods are used in sports they help to create an aura of professionalism and rigorousness that separates the pros from the amateurs. When they are used in the realm of politics they serve to provide the news casters with a distance from the news they read. It helps to create an air of impartiality and they derive their divinity from this cool distance. However, the more I hear them talk about how white voters vote or black voters feel, the more I feel like nothing substantial is being said, that somehow our actions are being dictated to us, our psychology exposed to us in a shallow and superficial way.

Maybe its just the duhumanising effect of being reduced to a racial or economic statistic. Toward the end of the article a stratergist says about Obama - “He’s been pulled into a demographic corner, not a racial corner,”. I thought to myself, race is just a demographic, isn't that the point of all we have learnt from history, isn't that the logical end point of our attempts at enlightenment. At this point, race should be just a talking point, a historical accident. Unfortunately I guess I am more naive than I thought. Besides, a 24 hour news cycle is like a gossipy sewing circle or a mic'ed water cooler. Sheer boredom drives the whole enterprise and there is no worse crime than not having something to say. I guess we are lucky that we can flip away from the news.