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The Politics of "Parks and Rec"

2016-03-11 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:42 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal essay

Using Parks and Rec's Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson, who disagree on almost everything yet respect each other as good people, Hank argues that today's US discourse makes political disagreement feel like an attack on identity, and wishes Americans could care passionately without demonizing opponents.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Parks and Rec: Leslie and Ron disagree on everything but are good people who recognize each other's goodness

  • ★★ Hank calls Parks and Rec an extremely special show: hilarious, but also friendly, kind, thoughtful and full of people who disagreed but enjoyed each other. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson, who could not disagree more politically, fight a lot but do not hate each other. — 00:00:40
  • ★★★ Despite very different worldviews, both are good people, as every viewer recognizes, and they recognize each other's goodness. — 00:00:49

00:00:58 — The show keeps their politics away from charged issues (guns, abortion, Biden, local government), making the friendship believable

  • ★ Hank contrasts the show with House of Cards, in which, as far as he can tell, there are no good people. (hedged) — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Hank says Ron and Leslie's politics sit far enough outside the poisoned political discourse that they never disagree about the day's classically charged issues. — 00:01:02
  • ★★ Hank calls it a nice dramatic device: Ron opposes government regulation of guns, but probably also of abortion or gay marriage, because he opposes regulating anything. (hedged) — 00:01:23
  • ★★ Leslie, by contrast, works in the trenches of local government and is clearly deeply progressive, liberal and a huge Joe Biden fan. — 00:01:42
  • ★★★ Leslie talks not about gun control or immigration but about making the Parks Department work, so the show's clearly liberal politics stay clear of intractable debates, making the friendship believable. — 00:01:53

00:02:14 — What this says about US discourse: respect, issues as identity, polarization and filter bubbles, be more like Leslie and Ron; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says it says something about US discourse that even a sitcom must create this distance from reality to make a friendship across politics believable. — 00:02:14 · United States
  • ★★★ What works beneath it all, Hank thinks, is respect: they value each other's convictions though they rarely share goals or opinions, except about breakfast food. (hedged) — 00:02:24

  • ★★★ Hank says that nowadays there is more to the issues than the issues: an attack on a government policy, or inaction on a new one, can feel like an attack on our identity. — 00:02:42

    “there is so much more to the issues than the issues”

  • ★★ Ron and Leslie move beyond that and share the world respectfully and kindly, valuing each other despite their differences. — 00:02:52

  • ★★★ Hank says Americans find this ever harder, and it will get harder the deeper the country gets into this election season. — 00:03:01 · United States, United States presidential election
  • ★★★ Hank says we now see the opposition monolithically and negatively, can live without knowing anyone who would vote the other way, and stay in bias-affirming filters, thinking opponents ignorant or evil. — 00:03:07
  • ★★★ Hank wishes we could all be more like Leslie and Ron, caring passionately about our beliefs without demonizing those who disagree, which has never in his life been harder. — 00:03:25 · othering

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank expects the video won't resonate with many, granting that some issues and rhetoric are legitimate, unsupportable attacks on groups of people in the US and the world. — video description · United States
  • ★★ In the description Hank grants it is hard, and often seems unnecessary, to look past such attacks to see their authors' humanity, and that many will say moderation only weakens 'our side'. — video description
  • ★★ Hank notes the view that energized, angry people are needed because anger and fear translate into votes and so into change, but says he is no longer sure whether to worry more about the hatred or the politics. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says he tries to remember that people on the other side feel attacked too, however irrational that seems to him, and that both he and they see the most negative, distorted, evil-looking version of their opposition in their feeds. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says he sees no country-wide solution to this, which terrifies him, but Leslie and Ron, though fictional, give him hope. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank lists what Leslie and Ron disagree about, cutting to Ron on weapons at work — 00:00:32

    “Literally everything is a weapon, son.”

  • Right after insisting Leslie and Ron do not hate each other, Hank shows Leslie coldly snubbing Ron — 00:00:46

    “Okay, they did for a little while, but mostly they don't.”

  • Hank explains that Ron Swanson, who opposes all regulation, is probably not even an NRA member — 00:01:11

    “because he wouldn't give them his address”

  • A clip of Ron describing his ideal government: one guy at a desk in a small room — 00:01:34

    “the only thing he's allowed to decide is who to nuke”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Leslie Knope · Parks and Recreation · political polarization · Ron Swanson

Also: People: Joe Biden

Works: House of Cards

Organizations: National Rifle Association

Concepts: abortion · echo chamber · gun control · local government · modern liberalism in the United States · othering · same-sex marriage

Places: United States

Events: United States presidential election

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