This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 22, 2012 - Rep. Todd Akin set off a political firestorm by his remarks on rape and abortion made on a Sunday talk show. Both Republicans and Democrats have attacked him for his insensitive comments, providing a rare example of the two parties agreeing on something.
Akin’s remarks have probably assured him a place in the hall of fame of political verbal gaffes. Entry is reserved for politicians who have undermined their political fortunes by one memorable misstep. It is still too early, however, to tell whether Akin has earned the highest honor among political gaffes: the Big Kahuna Gaffe, or the single cataclysmic moment in a politician’s career when what he/she says jeopardizes a whole political career in one fell swoop.
In recent times, Big Kahuna Gaffe awards have gone to Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen for his “macaca” comment; GOP presidential candidate, Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, who could not name one of the three federal agencies he vowed to cut; and Gov. Sarah Palin’s disastrous interview with Katie Couric during the 2008 presidential campaign.
A special subcategory of the Big Kahuna is reserved for politically embarrassing moments such as the sexting scandal of Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., Sen. Larry Craig’s, R-Idaho, arrest for lewd conduct in a men’s restroom, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s, D-N.Y., soliciting prostitutes, and the list goes on and on.
These stupendous mistakes often result in the premature end of promising political careers, especially in the case of Allen and Spitzer, who were touted for bigger things, when they were brought down by their own misconduct.
As Akin’s bid for Big Kahuna Gaffe status attained media spotlight, a Google search on political gaffes indicates that they are far from rare and appear to have become more common in recent times.
Human nature has remained fundamentally unchanged over several millennia. Therefore, people behave no worse or stupider now than their ancestors did. What is different today is someone cannot utter a word or do something without the whole world knowing about it on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter. The power of social media means that a gaffe, which in the past might have gone unnoticed, is now the center of the media’s attention through several news cycles.
The gaffe takes on a virtual life of its own in cyberspace. Let’s say a politician says something he/she would later regret. If, as in Akin’s case, it appears on local TV, maybe a few thousand people see it. Social media, however, guarantee that, minutes after the gaffe has been committed, millions of people will learn about it.
We are all familiar with the phenomenon and probably have taken part in the transmission process ourselves. Someone in St. Louis sees Akin make a slip-up on TV and she changes her status on Facebook to say: “OMG, I can’t believe I just heard Akin say on TV!” Her Facebook friends share the status on their pages and their friends do the same. Some of the more skeptical may want to see the gaffe for themselves so they go to YouTube and, lo and behold, there it is in almost in real time. Add Twitter and other social media into the mix and pretty soon you have a national, if not international, cause célèbre.
If you are truly unfortunate, within days, there will be viral videos made by enterprising teens showing your gaffe in all sorts of unexpected contexts. (For a recent example of the mash-up “art form” see the McKayla is not impressed videos that have gone viral on YouTube after she won the silver medal in London earlier.)
I expect that this will happen soon to Akin’s comments, if it has not already. When this occurs you have reached truly elevated status within today’s hyper-media saturated culture. You are no longer just a politician running for some office somewhere you have become a meme.
A meme means that you are universal. You take on the characteristics of a cultural archetype and in my book that is much better than being just an ordinary pol.
Robert A. Cropf chairs the Department of Public Policy Studies at Saint Louis University.