Treyvon Martin and Clarence Thomas Essay -- Political Spectacle, Polit

On February 26, 2012, an apparently innocent teenager was shot as he walked home through his neighborhood late at night. The Trayvon Martin killing and trial has recently been one of the primary topics covered by the media in America. The response to the news coverage of the case has been staggering. Students have organized hoodie marches and created Facebook groups to protest the unjustified murder of the young man. However, is the American public as well informed as it pretends to be? Americans have an unsettling susceptibility to manipulation from the media. In 1991, a similar event occurred in the case of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, where Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas, had his personal affairs put on display for America. This event ignited unrest in women’s rights and civil rights groups across the country. Americans were surprised to discover that the nation had been blind to these supposed political injustices for years. The Clarence Thomas confir mation hearings cloaked a staggering message to the American people about media’s role in manipulating American sentiment by sensationalizing the news coverage relayed to the American public. The original purpose of the Clarence Thomas hearings were to determine if George Bush’s nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, was a legitimate nominee for the prestigious role of Supreme Court justice. However, the hearings quickly developed into little more than a â€Å"political spectacle.† A political spectacle â€Å"is public in the sense that it deals with a†¦ scandalous action that carries instant and wide appeal no matter who does it† . The spectacle was tailored so that it would reach and catch the attention of millions of viewers. In order to accomplish th... ...ide, â€Å"Deconstructing the Political Spectacle: Sex, Race, and Subjectivity in Public Response to the Clarence Thomas/ Anita Hill â€Å"Sexual Harassment† Hearings,† American Journal of Political Science 37 (1993): 701. Dianne Rucinski, â€Å"Rush to Judgment? Fast Reaction Polls in the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Controversy,† The Public Opinion Quarterly 57 (1993): 575. Frances Trix and Andrea Sankar, â€Å"Women's Voices and Experiences of the Hill-Thomas Hearings,† American Anthropologist 100 (1998): 32. Larry Hugick, "On Night before Vote, Support for Thomas Remains Strong," Gallup Poll News Service 56 ( 1991): 2. Murray Edelman, Constructing the Political Spectacle (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), 99. Thomas P. Kim, â€Å"Clarence Thomas and the Politicization of Candidate Gender in the 1992 Senate Elections,† Legislative Studies Quarterly 23 (1998): 399.