What Jason Spencer taught us on Who is America?”

Those who didn’t watch Republican Georgia State Representative Jason Spencer’s performance on Showtime’s “Who Is America?” missed a politician’s bare buttocks, an onslaught of ethnic slurs, islamophobia, homophobia, and a discomforting answer to the show’s title question.

Spencer has since announced his resignation after the show’s star, Sacha Baron Cohen, pranked him into believing that a series of ridiculous acts would help him defend himself against terrorists. Cohen convinced Spencer he was an Israeli anti-terrorism expert and that repeatedly screaming the n-word, chasing off radicals with his bare butt, and pretending to be a Chinese tourist to covertly photograph under a woman’s burka would all protect him from potential threats.

Here’s why all this matters.
This footage, and the show as a whole, shows Americans at their worst and Cohen doesn’t seem to be trying that hard to coax it out of them. Furthermore, participants know there are cameras involved and still act this way.

Although this is only the behavior of one person, as an elected official, Spencer represents the shortcomings of those who elected him and those who couldn’t put up a better fight against him politically.

When officials disappoint their constituents, responses vary but it’s not uncommon for supporters to either defend them or dismiss the event as an isolated incident, the exception to the rule.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the political fence, people treat a politician’s shortcomings as part of their government as a personal victory; they insist it’s merely a matter of accountability but then use incidents like the one with Spencer as an opportunity to gloat.

We have to do better.
Like it or not, Jason Spencer’s embarrassing display reflects on us all. As Americans, we shouldn’t treat Georgia like a distant planet or Spencer like a one-of-a-kind extraterrestrial. He is one of many like him and regrettably he is one of us. It’s absurd to throw up our hands and say “Oh well, he wasn’t who I voted for” or bury our heads in the sand if he was. We hire our government officials to do a job with a certain degree of professionalism; when they don’t, it’s our responsibility to find people who will.