Rafael Behr has written a great post on how the dynamics the experts and the popular vote in reality TV competitions illustrates the inherent tensions within representative democracies. I’m becoming quite a fan – he was also one of the few people in the press to really investigate what the Cameron/Johnson oligarchy means for British society.
I have a particular interest in the John Sergeant case because his wife attempted to teach me Latin at school (it was a valiant effort, but I’m no linguist). I say this to defend the Sergeant name against Behr’s accusations of brute popularism! Anyway, check it out, it illustrates exactly how I believe that popular culture and democratic politcs can illuminate one another, despite Behr’s contradictory disavowal of this in his concluding words (‘Well, I don’t care that much. It’s only TV.’)
Tags: democracy, guardian, john sergeant, politics, rafael behr, reality tv, strictly come dancing
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