It’s election time and open hunting season on the much used—and much despised—sound bite.
The latest to take aim is Maryland senatorial candidate Michael S. Steele, who charged that his opponents “want to sound bite people’s experiences and sound bite people’s lives into 30 seconds, and people don’t live that way.” And presumably don’t vote that way either.
The common argument says previous generations cast their ballots after considering the substantive messages and rhetorical flourishes of Lincoln, FDR and JFK. The “golden age of oratory” has turned to dross—replaced by slick political operatives in complicity with an indifferent news media. Today’s voters are limited to chewing on a few pre-packaged platitudes before pulling the lever.
Are sound bites a genuine threat to our democracy? Or do their detractors wax nostalgic over a “golden age” that never existed?
While it’s true that audiences born before television, radio and the Internet were not bombarded by as many bites, blurbs and headlines as contemporary Americans, the sound bite has existed since ancient times. For centuries, political, business and religious leaders have distilled their messages into memorable, bite-sized pieces.
Several bites come to mind: Julius Caesar’s “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death.” Franklin Roosevelt’s “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” And John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Then there is William Jennings Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” speech, delivered to the Democratic national convention in 1896. According to an electronic count, the full text features over 3,200 words. But it’s Bryan’s final sentence that gave the audience its take-away message: “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
That is a classic sound bite.
Far from “spinning” or obfuscating, the much-maligned sound bite crystallizes messages into memorable phrases and impassioned pleas that people remember, repeat, and act upon. Consider this quote: “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I will not exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.” With those two sentences, delivered during the second 1984 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan instantly defused the “age issue” – a concern which had gained traction after Reagan’s unsteady performance in the first debate.
Michael Steele is correct that people don’t live sound bite lives. But they do decide from information and impressions communicated by sound bites. In my view, unless you are able to distill your message into a digestible sound bite, you have failed to craft an effective message. Members of the entertainment and news media have known this for decades. A good editor knows how to reduce an article into an attention-grabbing headline. A professional screenwriter condenses his plot into a one-sentence “log line,” suitable for publication in TV Guide. The savvy brander reduces the product or organization’s unique selling points to a simple tag line – “Wal-Mart: Always low prices.”
Headlines, log lines, tag lines, memorable phrases: these are all sound bites by other names.
Some argue that, regardless of their benefits, sound bites have extinguished serious discussion of the “issues” by reducing politics to competing slogans. I have two thoughts on this. First, during the past 40 years, the general public has never been fully engaged in a profound analysis of the issues. Had that been true, Senator Richard Lugar would have made Bill Clinton a one-term president. Most Americans cast their votes based on one or two issues they hold dear, and yes, these have been (or can be) reduced to sound bites.
Second, if the public is to become more involved in substantive discussions of issues, the media should demand regular debate, rather than focusing on how certain strategies and tactics may help a candidate appeal to his “base” or the “swing voters.” Too often, elections are treated as sporting events. The results are deemed less interesting than the means used by the winners to get elected.
If the purpose of language is to communicate, then the sound bite represents an apex of focused rhetorical power. Its simplicity, brevity and clarity are badly needed in a world jam-packed with images and noises. If nothing else, it forces our elected officials to get to the point or get off the stage.
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