Netanyahu. Exaggerated effort to preserve the image could actually crack the image
Photo: Reuters
Why is Netanyahu so determined to control the media?
Op-ed: Israel's prime minister, the charismatic actor, appears to be unsure of his own identity; otherwise, he wouldn't be putting so much effort and using such ugly tricks to take revenge against media outlets which criticize him.
My father was a famous theater actor at the time. He won distinguished roles, and was praised by critics. He was not a star. Something in his stage personality stood in his way. I once asked him about it, and he candidly responded: "lack of charisma." I asked him what is charisma, and he explained that the word comes from Greek and means "a gift of grace."
My father said there was something in the star's personality which piqued the viewer's curiosity. Every character he plays will have something hidden in it, and the viewer will want to peel it to reach the core of his personality – although often there is nothing in him apart from a shell wrapping a shell.
He also said he believed stage charisma had to do with the viewer's feeling that the glorious actor was secretive. What secret hides in people who make a living on exposure?
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I won't be telling you anything new if I say that the most successful political leaders are actors. That was the case when the political arena was the city square, and it is the case many times over in the mass society era, in which the direct contact between the leader and the public has been broken off. The media allegedly bridges over this distance, but it is not an alternative to the direct contact.
Netanyahu may face tactical difficulties, but at the end of the day he wins because the vague views he expresses are worded in accordance with the real desire of the majority of the people (Photo: EPA)
It is actually the television, the medium which is considered the most realistic media, which allows the leader to formulate himself and present himself at his best: Eloquent, confident, plainspoken, made up, ironed, clean of beads of sweat, noble and commanding. The pictures of "the leader in slippers" are also strictly staged. Hesitations, doubts, desperation and loss of control, even for a second, will rarely burst forth on television and will be considered a serious hitch in the work of the image creation mechanisms.
Look what happened to Opposition Chairman Isaac (Buji) Herzog in the Channel 10 film directed by Anat Goren, who was permitted to escort him during the election campaign. This documentary is a rare victory by the media in their ongoing struggle to unveil. It is activated by the urges of media consumers, who yearn to remove the disguise, while the leader (the actor) is afraid to reveal what was revealed to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz": When she and her friends approach the wizard, it turns out that he is nothing but an old and tiny guy hiding in an intimidating machine. Buji's advisors were wrong to believe that the man's heartwarming character would overcome the rules of theater.
We don’t know who is the Netanyahu hidden in the machine, and it seems he is unsure of his identity himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't be putting so much effort and using such ugly tricks to take revenge against the media outlets which criticize him. Public opinion polls show that the majority of the public can’t find a leader worthy of replacing him in his job, and on Election Day it is determined time and again that the ballots couldn't care less about the comments of journalists who are mistakenly called "public opinion shapers." They shape opinions like hairstylists style hair: A week later, the rebellious hair returns to its place.
The Likud leader may face tactical difficulties, but at the end of the day he wins because the vague views he expresses are worded in accordance with the real desire of the majority of the people. This majority, whose power intensifies because of irreversible demographic reasons, is conservative, traditional and nationalistic. Whoever thinks that the elections were decided because of a demagogic trick which was improvised at the last moment doesn’t understand the spirit of the people he is living among.
Right-wing supporters often tease the media and remind them of the difference between the importance they attribute to themselves and their poor influence. If that is the case, and it is, why do they resent the media, why the feeling of persecution, why sterilize the weak media if they are already castrated as it is?
The reason only stems from the charismatic player's fear of removing the makeup. The demonstration of this fear points to insecurity, and it is possible that wise people who sympathize with him will whisper in his ear that an exaggerated effort aimed at preserving the image actually cracks the image.
