Ignorance and Jesse Ventura, or A Call for Candor

I recently attended the CHI2002 conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  CHI stands for Computer Human Interaction.  The conference attracted about two thousand computer professionals from around the world, many are from academia and the major corporations that shape our technological world, like Microsoft, IBM, and Sun.  As part of the opening ceremonies all of the attendees were shown a short video from Governor Ventura welcoming them to Minnesota and encouraging them to visit other attraction while they were in the city; it was one of the basic ceremonial functions of the governor that few people see except for those who are in the audience.  Undoubtedly Ventura had delivered similar messages to other conventions that had taken place across the state.  But there was one thing Jesse said that made this speech stand out for me.  He said, "I don't know much about computers."  Most of the audience laughed and smiled at this comment from our eccentric ex-wrestler turned governor.  But the more I think about this simple statement the more odd it seems and the more emblematic it becomes of what I think the critique of politics as usual the election of Ventura represented.

How many other public figures can you think of who willingly admit their ignorance in front of a specialized audience or the general public?  Offhand I can't think of any others that command the same kind of attention as Ventura.  I can't imagine Bill Clinton, or George W. Bush ever uttering a similar line.  I suspect that Ventura knows as much about computers as Bush.  I don't know how much Clinton knows about computers but I feel that whatever he told me would have a bit of a fudge factor in it.  Clinton might be able to talk a good game about any topic under the sun and he would never refuse to answer or admit ignorance.  And that, in part, is the problem with politics today: nobody wants to say that they don't have the answer on the environment, terrorism, abortion, taxes, or any other issue that might be part of the public interest.  Politics has been forced into a corner where it is impossible to think about an issue or to have a debate that might change your mind.  The politician who admits he was wrong in the past is branded by the media as a waffler.  So what he says must always be correct for the audience he stands in front of, and when the audience changes so do the issues and the positions, what was true yesterday becomes false today.

Ventura managed to stay out of this quagmire with ease and elan.  He knew that he didn't have all of the answers so he chose his advisors carefully.  He poked fun at himself instead of insisting that everything always be authentic, this was part of his entertaining charm.  He was like Reagan without the earnest 'morning in America' platitudes and for that alone I respect and admire him.

While listening to Ventura's announcement that he would not run for governor I was struck by the number of times he complained about the viciousness of the media.  Like most things Ventura said I take this with a grain of salt.  I believe him when he tells me how much he dislikes the media but I also appreciate the adversarial role that the media needs to play in our society.  But I realized that there is one area where the media is even worse than the politicians and this is the area I've been talking about, admitting ignorance and failure.

Every night I can turn on the NewsHour or Crossfire and see a group of pundits talking about the issues of the day and most of the time it is the same people over and over again.  Yet these people somehow manage to be 'experts' on everything that comes in front of them when in reality they probably just learned about the issue in that morning's paper.  The pundits are, no doubt, highly intelligent people but how can I believe that anyone can be an expert about French electoral politics one day and an expert on military planning the next or know the economic impact of steel tariffs one week and explain the intricacies of ballot counting the next.  To be so knowledgeable beggars the belief of any sane person, but do these people ever recuse themselves or admit ignorance, no, because to pause for thought or doubt would mean surrendering their coveted spots on national television.  Being a commentator is less about knowledge and more about ready wit and verbal agility.  At the least you can always be ready to come back with some ready cliche about it 'all being politics.'  This is why so much political coverage is about the contest instead of the real issues because the contest is the only thing the pundits really understand or take the time to investigate.

© Copyright 2002 Todd Suomela. Last update: 6/19/2002; 12:28:50 AM.