A friend of mine encouraged me to check this scary piece of work out. Be sure to listen to the mp3, but preferrably not at work or in front of young children.
It's disturbing, but I could see how it is affective. Fear and guilt? What great motivating emotions. Is this where the 'liberal agenda' is going wrong? Are we way off kilter to be employing rational, ethical principles and humanistic compassion as our selling tools? Ok, there's liberal guilt, but tell me it isn't easier to stomach feeling guilty about enjoying your soy latte and liberal arts education than this kid's monologue. Maybe we need to be working from further down the brainstem.
Posted by court at November 24, 2003 11:41 PMthis certainly is an example of working down the brainstem. wayyy down. hey wait, that's a butthole, not a brainstem!
this is just raw propaganda. one of the fundamental problems with the american right today is that they use tools like these to hit at a visceral level as a way of obscuring the truth. it's what i like to call "get-the-bitch drunk-style" politics. it's used when there is no substance to a position, and the public is plied with emotion (usually rage) and platitudes as a means of getting support.
trying to "sell" an idea this way is a little too facist even for liberal cutthroats like me.
our selling tools should be more like, "hey, here's your fucking job back, man." you'd be surprised at how well that tactic sings.
Posted by: ae at November 25, 2003 09:30 AMsadly, I feel like we'll mostly be singing that song to W next year.
The right has been working on building their position and constituency in a systematic and powerful fashion since the early nineties. We can take a lesson from them on that. They didn't flail around aimlessly quite as much as liberals seem to be right now. We need to get over the shock of how badly we're getting beaten all over and start building our position back up. The conservative 'think-tanks' of the recent past have served to give forth writers, politicians and business leaders that work in concert to obscure the vision of the American public.
It also doesn't help that the baby boomers are getting to that age where a lot of people turn right. Just wait till they start trying to collect their social security and medicare... that should be about half-way through Jeb's first term.
graves,
get involved in the process. that "we" is you. resign and apathy is soooo '97.
Posted by: ae at November 25, 2003 02:01 PMDoes emotion and reason have to be mutually exclusive as means of gaining support?
Posted by: court at November 25, 2003 06:17 PMDefinitrely not . I'm just morally opposed to capitalizing on emotional vulnerabilities IN THE FACE OF logic, science and the greater good. I think important issues often have the impact they do (and create the kinds of rifts that they do) because of an emotional component. If we can use feelings as a way of illuminating a good idea, i'm all for it. I am against mysoginistic tactics like the one above where a nameless, faceless woman is vilified as an infanticidal maniac as a means of furthuring a pro-life agenda.
Posted by: ae at November 26, 2003 10:06 PM