By Michael Lesser '18:

In the formative years of what would become the United States of America, political discourse was distributed via pamphlets or newspapers.  In those early years, Americans were hungry for political news and had the attention span and interest to read a pamphlet or manuscript from cover to cover.  News was different.  Newspapers were a fraction of what they are today.  Americans were not bombarded with social media, global politics, or the amount of advertising prevalent in the 21^st century.  Important speeches were also generally shorter than they are today.  For example, one of the most famous speeches in American history, President Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address, delivered in commemoration of an important Civil War battle, was under three minutes long.  The format of that lauded speech diverges starkly from that of recent State of the Union addresses, all of which have hovered around the one-hour mark.

For previous generations, reading books was an important way to spend free time.  The current generation reads significantly less than their parents did at the same age, and dramatically less than their grandparents, and so on.  College-aged adults, for example, spend their free time on social media, videogames, TV, movies, and a variety of other platforms that are all delivered via electronic devices. All of these distractions have contributed to a decline in the average attention span of the American population.

In this age of social media and messages being delivered in less than 140 characters, the reality is that it is hard to persuade millennials to read a political speech or essay from beginning to end.  The question remains, how to interest this generation in important political issues and how to get them to take a position.  The dilemma is then, how should politicians address the American public?

In a much anticipated and highly controversial move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has found a way to capture the “sound bite” worthy of starting a conversation about American negotiations with Iran, a conversation to discuss Iranian nuclear capability.  It is indeed ironic that it was a foreign politician, albeit one who was American-educated, who presented the template on how best to address the American public.  Mr. Netanyahu’s March 3^rd speech to a joint meeting of the US Congress against the American-Iranian Nuclear deal was transformative in many different ways.  While the speech was well-received by certain congressional interests, arguably more intriguing was Mr. Netanyahu’s shrewd use of the captivating sound bite.  The most fascinating outgrowth of his speech was the proliferation of the many quips and highlights through social media, including: “When it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy," “[Iran and Isis are competing for] the crown of militant Islam," and "In this deadly game of thrones, there is no place for America or Israel.” The way to promote political discourse in 21^st century America, then, appears to require finding the captivating sound bite, with a liberal sprinkling of current nuggets of popular culture.

The speech that Prime Minister Netanyahu gave was not a wooing of the American public—it was a call to action. He did not beat around the problem; he met it head on and said that together the United States and Israel could choose to get “the alternative to this bad deal [which] is a much better deal.” Even though his speech was nearly as long as those of his American counterparts, Netanyahu filled the speech with lines designed to be remembered and shared. The best way for a politician to address the American public or their representatives is to give the American public something that can be easily grasped and shared.  Today, the mark of a successful speech is one that people quote in the days to come, beyond the 22-minute news cycle. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech embodies that successful formula, and should be a rallying cry to American politicians hoping to appeal to this new generation of voters.

Sources:http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/01/28/how-the-length-of-state-of-the-union-speeches-confirms-every-stereotype-we-have-of-our-presidents/http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3534http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-americans-reading-a-lot-less/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/03/03/full-text-netanyahus-address-to-congress/http://www.ibtimes.com/netanyahu-speech-congress-best-quotes-iran-isis-militant-islam-game-thrones-1834500http://newshour-tc.pbs.org/newshour/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/RTR2MU7D.jpg