"Krone" commentary

The face of our politics

Analyzed for the "Krone": Andreas Mölzer

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

They are currently smiling at us on every street corner: the candidates of the campaigning parties. And in most cases, it is not so much the slogans on the election posters as the physiognomies of the respective politicians that are supposed to persuade us to vote positively. Likeable or less likeable, that is the question here.

ON THE ONE HAND, so-called "body shaming", i.e. judging politicians by their appearance, is considered a gross violation of political correctness.

Character determines effect
OTHERWISE, what Roland Girtler, the old master of qualitative social research, once said is true: In youth, everyone's countenance is inherited, determined, as it were, by the good Lord or indeed by the hereditary mass. But from the age of around 40 at the latest, everyone is responsible for their own face. In other words, character determines the expression and effect of the face.

So when the ÖVP leader looks statesmanlike into the distance on the election posters, he wants to show himself a little artificially as a visionary. The SPÖ's top candidate, well coiffed with a pout, would like to follow in Kreisky's footsteps. The blue front man plays the relentless ascetic in the fight against the establishment. The Neos leader in the habitus of the political preferred pupil. And the green old master with clear signs of wear and tear.

And the question always arises as to who comes across as likeable and credible.