3 ms·
> He is an entertainer and capable of manipulating crowds. My concern is the lack of people like this who share my own politics. The creepy part for me was not
by magpi3 7y ago
> He is an entertainer and capable of manipulating crowds. My concern is the lack of people like this who share my own politics.
The creepy part for me was not the canned speech. It was the attempt to manipulate the people at his table. The last minute arrival, the shock at finding he is the speaker, forgetting his speech at the table... I would also feel like I am watching a fraud
- tomohawk 7y agoChances are, if you are watching a politician, you are watching a fraud. The earnest ones are usually the most dangerous ones. They may actually believe the blather that comes out of their mouths that they don't understand. Many politicians have the skill to get and keep power, but not much other skill.
- lmm 7y agoWouldn't it feel more fraudulent if he "turned off the buffoon" as soon as he got backstage? When you perform a role that requires acting in a certain way, it becomes a part of you too; how many teachers come home and find themselves still in their "classroom persona" for a bit?
- magpi3 7y agoDo you think he continues this persona with his family? He must turn it off at some point. He cannot go home and tell his wife every other week how shocked he was to find that he was the main speaker. And yes I consider performers who clearly separate their personal identities from their fictional identities less fraudulent.
- pjc50 7y agoI'm not sure what he tells his wife, but what he shouts at his girlfriend loud enough for the neighbours to hear is currently a matter of national news. It's clear that Johnson is, to some extent, "fraudulent"; he's certainly a man of dual loyalties (he earns more as a "journalist" filing one column a week than he does as a Minister). What's more interesting is why most of the rest of the media class seem to go along with it.
- lmm 7y ago> Do you think he continues this persona with his family? He must turn it off at some point. He cannot go home and tell his wife every other week how shocked he was to find that he was the main speaker. I'm sure he has a life outside of his after-dinner-speaker persona, sure. But equally, I'm sure that parts of how he acts when speaking occasionally bleed over to how he acts with his family, and vice versa. We all play different personas in different contexts, but even those with a very artificial role - actors, wrestlers, cosplayers - bring some of their "real" self into the role and vice versa. Indeed staying "in character" the whole time one is on set is a cornerstone of respected acting technique.
- monk_e_boy 7y agoIt's all staged. The late enterence, the demands for paper and pen, leaving it on the table and 'winging' his speech. He knows it all adds to his mystique, that sheet of paper will be passed around and talked about. He knows that he has been sat on the most influential table with the most influential people. He reminds me of great improv, that he takes a bit and goes with it. Shame he's being kept of the telly at the moment.
- magpi3 7y agoExcept none of it is improv. It is all planned.