I suppose that it might be argued that as I age I become a bit grouchier than I once was. I have a number of pet peeves that I try to keep to myself but the one that bothers me the most is the staging of presidential speeches. Starting toward the end of the twentieth century someone who plans such things decided that the messages of presidents would carry more weight if there were ordinary American citizens standing behind them as evidence of support. Such events became as choreographed as a Broadway musical. The common folk were chosen to represent the face of the population and the ideals of the speaker. 

I don’t know about anyone else but I find such “shows” to be annoying. I much prefer the old ways of presidential announcements when whoever was in office simply stood at a podium stating the facts without all the fanfare. I really do not need to see the reactions of supporters in order to get the gist of presidential announcements. In fact, I find all of the staging to be a distraction designed to keep the American people entertained rather than informed. I don’t need music and flags and smoke and mirrors to appreciate the content of a president’s speech. I don’t want off topic jokes and slanders. As Sgt. Friday once said, “Just give me the facts!”

I realize that we live in a world filled with imagery that often tells us more about what is being said than the actual words. Nonetheless I find all of the add ons to presidential speeches to be distracting rather than useful. Maybe it’s my personal way of learning or part of my introverted personality but I just don’t like all the the distractions. 

I once took a graduate class in educational psychology. On one of the class days we gathered in the classroom and had to wait a bit longer than usual for the professor to arrive and begin his lecture. Prominently placed in the middle of the whiteboard at the front of the room was a single hot pink post-it note with no writing on it. I was unable to take my eyes off of it even when the professor finally began his lecture for the day. For some reason I began to imagine how that pink blob got there. My mind drifted away from what the professor was saying for a moment and I had to force my attention back on him lest I miss important information. 

After about fifteen minutes the professor suddenly stopped and turned to look at the pink paper as though he was just then discovering it. He seemed puzzled as he quietly stared at it and then he stood right next to it and asked if any of us had wondered why it was there. Almost everyone in the room acknowledged that they had been as mesmerized by the lone piece of paper as I had been. Then the teacher pulled it from the whiteboard and turned back around to address the issue. 

He asked how many of us had lots of decorations in our classrooms. He wanted us to describe how the environment was set up and why we chose certain things. Before long he had convinced us that more often than not too much on the walls and hanging from the ceiling might look appealing but it was also causing some of our students to lose focus and day dream while we were attempting to dispense knowledge. 

I totally understood what he was saying because I had been one of those students who was often lost in thought in classrooms that were too busy. I also thought of the many young people that I taught who were so easily taken off task by the environment. I recalled a time when I had posted a “Where’s Waldo” photo on one of my side bulletin boards. It had nothing to do with the mathematics that I was teaching but I thought it was fun and might delight my students. What did not occur to me was that it might become a massive distraction. Then one day during a test I noticed the student closest to that poster seemingly staring off into space. 

When I walked past his desk I saw that he had not completed a single problem on the test. I asked him if he was having difficulty with the work and he quite innocently announced that he wanted to find Waldo before beginning the quiz. I knew in that moment that Waldo was going to have to go lest other students become mesmerized like this one. Luckily this young man was quite adept in math and was able to complete the test as soon as I gave him some hints to instantly find Waldo.

I suppose that the whole presentation of presidential announcements has become a major production over time but I wonder how many others besides myself have grown weary of the silliness of always having a crew behind him to visually show us his support. Sometimes it might be best to stand alone and just get to the point in as few words as possible. We do not want or need to have an hours long production. I don’t require jokes or dancing to understand the gravity of a situation. I long for the days of simple announcements devoid of so much showmanship. If something is important enough to demand our attention it should not be hidden in distractors. 

I suppose that it is all a matter of taste. We all learn differently and react differently to the same situations but surely it is apparent that our leaders are constantly getting off task with all the extra frills. I don’t think we need to see the entire astronaut corp to know that the president is at NASA. We don’t need an entire backdrop of American flags to understand that the president is a patriot. The silly music adds nothing to the moment. The best addresses to the nation are delivered quietly and quickly without the extra scenery. I would so enjoy a return to that way of doing things. The silliness that we see so much today is irritating and insulting. My advice is to just keep it simple!