Perhaps all politicians have a little bit of the forked tongue about them. Politics can be a viper pit, after all. Matt Hancock’s article in The Sun today, justifying his decision to take part in the reality TV show, ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’ is as slithery as a carpet python.
Persuasion is as old as democracy, of course. Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric proposed a triad of persuasion: ethos, pathos and logos. Hancock has pulled them all out of his jungle knapsack. The article makes a few rather transparent attempts to persuade us of his credibility (ethos) and it appeals to our emotion (pathos) and reason (logos). Is it enough to guarantee survival in the jungle and beyond?
Let’s deconstruct some of the more slippery comments…
“For example, while most people will know me for being the Health Secretary during the pandemic, what you probably won’t know is that I am dyslexic, and I’ve been campaigning for better identification and support for dyslexic children.”
This simultaneously begs for our sympathy as it bids for moral superiority, since he has had to overcome the challenge of being dyslexic, while also intending to use the TV show’s platform to “help every dyslexic child unleash their potential”. Cue campfire heart-to-heart chats about dyslexia.
“Reality TV is a very different way to communicate with the electorate — it’s both honest and unfiltered.”
Reality TV is decidedly not reality, nor honest and unfiltered. The set, the show’s premise and the coterie of celebrities is about as staged as it gets. The program will be controlled and edited to the hilt. He can’t possibly think this is “honest”, so to describe it as such reveals a lot about his own honesty. If he does think it’s honest (and surely he doesn’t) it says something different about gullibility and intellect.
“While some will say reality TV should be beneath a politician, I think we’ve got to go to where the people gather.”
This is a blatant attempt to leverage both your ego and fear of shame. If you criticise Hancock doing this, you criticise “the people” and you wouldn’t want to be a snob would you? No, you should be a good person of the people and support politicians on reality TV!
He also attempts an appeal to reason here. He puts forward that it is reasonable to expect politicians to go where the people gather, although this is a rather novel and unconventional way to go about it. Pish to the traditional idea that politicians go to constituency surgeries and the House of Commons!
“I’ve talked to the whips, in the same way any MP would when going on a foreign visit.”
Here’s a nice try at credibility. “Visit” hints at official engagement rather than holiday. But did he talk to the whips before or after making the decision? I’m going to speculate it was after the fee was agreed.
“We all know that many people are turned off by the aggressive ‘gotcha’ questioning and insider presumptions of political news.”
He is pre-empting – or, in modern parlance, ‘pre-bunking’ – our cynicism. Any challenge (such as this article) is guilty of an underhand line in “gotcha” questioning.
“Like you, politicians are human, with hopes and fears, and normal emotions just like everyone else.”
Will he garner sympathy for his humanity by appearing on a reality TV show, or risk yet more disapproval? At the time of writing, there were over 3,000 replies to his tweet, nearly all negative.
Appearing on a reality TV show speaks more to the calibre and credibility of a modern day politician than his humanity. Would Margaret Thatcher have taken part? Or Clement Attlee? Winston Churchill?
This plea is also the ultimate appeal to pathos. Who wouldn’t agree with the meat of it? Politicians are human. Their fellow politicians and the media quite often treat them very harshly. They have to face a deluge of criticism, ad hominem and threats. It can be a dangerous job, literally.
But politicians occupy important positions of public service and as such we expect high standards of behaviour. Primary to the integrity of the role should be putting the obligations of public service above personal interests.
‘I’m a Celeb’ will earn him a nice fee and coincides with the release of his new book. And this is why his knapsack of neat arguments fails. Persuasive rhetoric must be underscored by honesty and integrity. His article rings hollow. His arrival in the jungle is a clear departure from the public service of politics. It’s a jungle out there and Hancock is looking after himself.
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Author Laura Dodsworth
