The WELL: pre.vue.125: Election 2006: what will THEY come up with this time?

#19: Gail Williams (gail) Fri 21 Jul 06 13:58

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:58:00 PDT

I think this is somewhat due to the culture-war split, though it's not black and white (uh, red and blue) or a "war" except in media commentary or at the extremes. In fact, framing that division probably benefits the most conservative minority, seems to me. Still, we are a nation with greatly varied communty standards and values.

So if you ridicule from within one camp, and are not clear how that plays to the other side, your mockery can look like bullying or snobbery to the other side while at the same time it plays as speaking truth to entrenched interests, or showing some education and forethought, say, to your allies.

It's easier to set up spin that ridicule is meanspirited when there is a cultural chasm like that. [Read entire topic]

#18: Doesn't everybody sniff it first? (plettner) Fri 21 Jul 06 13:46

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:46:00 PDT

Also, he's the first candidate, dating back to his run against Ann Richards, who has a response to the ridicule. The guy is a target rich environment for ridicule. Rove had to counter it, and did, by making anyone who attacks his candidate look like a sourpuss or mean spirited or whatever. And it continues to work today, only people are finally seeing that it wasn't mean- spiritedness. Those comments were astute observations. [Read entire topic]

#17: fluted pan (satyr) Fri 21 Jul 06 08:55

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:55:00 PDT

Politicians are, quite understanbly afraid of being ridiculed.

Ridicule is how Nixon beat McGovern, and how Reagan beat Jimmy Carter. It's also how Bush got close enough to actually beating Gore to be shoehorned into office and how he beat Kerry.

Bush vs. Gore is somewhat of a special case, because it highlights why being afraid of ridicule is couterproductive. Bush didn't "win" because anything much beyond the association with Clinton stuck to Gore, rather he did as well as he did because he came off as the guy to whom nothing sticks -- the old teflon coat trick. Think Telly Savalas cool. He made Gore look like a hothead. [Read entire topic]

#16: Doesn't everybody sniff it first? (plettner) Thu 20 Jul 06 11:12

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 11:12:00 PDT

Or maybe it's the voting method. (Don't they do it two at a time? To narrow in on "the best?")

Guy on the radio was talking about how Idol has, at its best, about 30 million viewers. That's a huge audience by today's standards. But when the Beverly Hillbillies was #1 in the ratings, it would get sixty million viewers. (Then again, I guess the highest rated of its shows was on in the midst of the Kennedy Assassination, so maybe there was some holdover from news?) So maybe it's about choices. [Read entire topic]

#15: Cogito, Ergo Spero (robertflink) Thu 20 Jul 06 04:58

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 04:58:00 PDT

>Could someone come up with a better plan to get people to actually vote? Seriously, American Idol gets a higher voter turn-out than the Presidential elections.<

American Idol may be getting a higher turn-out because it really matters much more that who is president. The message here is that entertainment is what really matters.

Perhaps getting more people schooling in the entertainment industry to run for office would work, say, standup comedians with ad lib skills.

Another approach is to turn all issues into moral issues to get the self-righteous juices flowing. [Read entire topic]

#14: Tom Digby (bubbles) Thu 20 Jul 06 02:24

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:24:00 PDT

fnord [Read entire topic]

#13: Hal Royaltey (hal) Wed 19 Jul 06 12:30

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:30:00 PDT

> ...then just as you're beginning to get into a receptive mood a loud noise > nearby breaks you out of it, and as your attention slips off to something > else, you think you glimpse the screen subtly flashing at about 8 Hz and > the eyes of the talking head rotating in opposite directions.

You guys ever watch "They Live"? You'd like it. [Read entire topic]

#12: If gopod's on our side s/he'll stop the next war (karish) Wed 19 Jul 06 10:42

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 10:42:00 PDT

Then the talking head starts to stutter uncontrollably and to rotate left and right trying to overcome it. Finally yellow and black diagonal stripes fill the screen, then fade to a commercial. [Read entire topic]

#11: fluted pan (satyr) Wed 19 Jul 06 08:15

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 08:15:00 PDT

The view of the talking head stabilizes with its eyes just above the center of the screen. Its voice has a droning quality that makes it difficult to concentrate on the words.

This goes on for several long minutes, then, as if a switch had been thrown, you begin to hear not the words being spoken but the subtext...

"They can't be trusted; you have to watch them constantly." "Whatever they say, believe the opposite." "Everything will be fine, if we can just keep them from spoiling it." "Don't listen to them." "We know what we're doing."

...then just as you're beginning to get into a receptive mood a loud noise nearby breaks you out of it, and as your attention slips off to something else, you think you glimpse the screen subtly flashing at about 8 Hz and the eyes of the talking head rotating in opposite directions. [Read entire topic]

#10: John Payne (satyr) Wed 19 Jul 06 08:13

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 08:13:00 PDT

<scribbled by satyr Wed 19 Jul 06 08:15> [Read entire topic]