Lewis H. Lapham Quotes

Since the rise of television in the 1950s, the media have become the central forum for American politicking, and increasingly today that role is being played by the blogosphere. With the blogger and the viewer replacing the pamphleteer and the parader, politicians focus on marketing themselves and their causes to passive consumers rather than mobilizing passionate soldiers. The new language of politics sounds like this: Spin doctors stage photo ops as pollsters survey voter preferences, spawning celebrity candidates.

Television changed politics forever. If you’re not any good at it, forget it.

As the age of television progresses, the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.

The making of the Barack Obama franchise far exceeded the skill set of Washington's best. In fact, the recipe for Mr. Obama's global popularity can be attributed less to political minds and chance than to the enduring power of Hollywood.

Donald Trump was underrated, but he understood social media and he understood reality television.

The journalistic and political classes are very eager to borrow the cultural authority of comedians when it suits them, sending out gala invitations and posing for photos in hopes that a bit of that edgy satirical shine will rub off on them.

I'm the TV girl.

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, celebrity endorsements possibly damaged Hillary Clinton, since they allowed Donald Trump to emphasise that she was part of an out-of-touch elite. That is ironic, given that Mr Trump owed his election victory to his own celebrity status on a TV reality show.

I think 'Celebrity Big Brother' is one of the most important shows on TV because we get to see people for who they really, really are and you've only got to look at.

Reality TV is a lot about drama, but for the first time in a long time, you actually have role models on TV.

I enjoy being myself on television, where I am not enacting a character.

I've never had any resentment about being a reality TV star.

I think if Hillary Clinton had come on 'Fox & Friends,' she would have gotten so many more votes, especially if she had done it over and over and over.

The mark of a really great satire is its ability to seem prophetic, and I think that the television culture that film predicted really came true in the age of reality television and is a testament to how great it really is.

For decades, Trump had no life independent from the media. He became a figure in the nation, and his a monitisable name - albeit quite a ludicrous one - because of his nonstop, relentless, shameless and often embarrassing courtship of the media.

Movie stars are now less remote, less fantasized.

The only shared reality we have is things we have seen on television.

For the message of television as metaphor is not only that all the world is a stage but that the stage is located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I do hope that for the young women watching the show they know it is heightened reality and just grown ups playing teenagers. That's not how it is supposed to go. Just keep it to yourself.

I think that people might watch reality television or what they see played out on media outlets and get ideas. We might be more anesthetized to divorce or bad behavior now because of what we see on television or on postings on TMZ. So it definitely could be filtering in to how we conduct ourselves.

I mean there's still also an element of the audience looking for role models. In my day, when I started, if you were an action hero, you were a little bit of a role model like the person.

I'm a really private person. I just love my work. I feel like celebrity has changed so much, in this culture. Ever since they started with those reality shows and people that aren't actors but they're really famous, it's gotten very different from when I started out. So, the idea of ever becoming more than what I had is not really what I want.

He wants as many victors as possible for the cameras to follow in the Capitol. Thinks it makes for better television." "Are you and Beetee going?" I ask. "As many young and attractive victors as possible," Haymitch corrects himself. "So, no. We'll be here.

The entertainment person gets a certain credibility, and the politician gets a certain notoriety. I'm against it.