Voting should be rational. It isn't.We should have access to as many facts about the candidates' histories and policies as we can digest and then we should do some careful comparisons, taking the country's history, the times, the needs and the trends into account. We don't. And politicians know this, which is why they make promises they know they can't keep, and why they kiss babies. And why they choose their themes and their music carefully. And why they wear certain colors, use buzz-words and phrases, and appear with their spouses in some venues but not others.
Voting is an emotional business, regardless of what the oft-analyzed intentions of the founding fathers might have been. Those guys were doing a lot of (really admirable) wishful thinking at that young stage of America; I think they thought they'd foster a race of more deliberate, cerebral people in this country than we've turned out to be. Maybe they believed that, given the opportunities and the expectations, the Americans of the future would grow into their charter.
We may be smarter, collectively, in that a higher percentage of us are literate and we can do some whizz-bangery in the way of accessing information with the help of the gadgets we've invented, but we're as emotional a species as we ever were...and maybe more so in this stressed-out transitional era. In fact, according to behavioral psychologists, we are far more vulnerable to making emotional decisions when we are flooded with fear of loss.
Me? I work really hard at rationality, but it might be hopeless. Ever since I heard that the President was planning a jobs bill to present in September, my brain has been repeatedly dropping the needle onto an old 33⅓ vinyl playing "Something Wonderful" from the original 1956 version of The King and I. What can I say? My mother took me to see it when I was eight years old and we must have played the soundtrack on our cabinet stereo a bazillion times. We sang along during our Saturday morning house cleaning drill. My brain is chock full of absolutely worthless, sappy, glorious pieces from West Side Story, South Pacific, and Camelot, any one of which it dutifully coughs up when the chips are down. I face the world of serious policy concerns on vital issues with sobriety, composure and deliberation, while somewhere in my brain pan Russ Tamblyn and the gang belts out, "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette, 'til your last dying day!"
I watched the NBC Republican debate Wednesday night. Aside from my amazement that there are actually at least eight people in the country who want to be President of the United States right now, I was very aware that I was being framed. I was interested to see how the GOP candidates used linguistic framing to define this mess we're in and sell us their solutions. I turned on the debates aware, prepared, and monitoring my mind for the little bursts of arousal that would indicate that, even though I disagreed in principle with their positions, I'd just succumbed unconsciously to manipulation by a well-trained right-wing phrase-monger, and....Whammo! This mind of mine gloms onto TIES!
And FINGERNAILS!!
Somebody tell me I'm not the only one.
I watched the President last night with a full heart and, I hoped, an open mind, fully aware that he was framing the issues too; in his case, I was pulling for full force persuasiveness. I thought his speech was superb, quixotically heroic in the face of some sour, embittered laughter and oppositional, pusilanimous mugging by the Republicans. I listened carefully and registered the points of his plan and wished it was possible to put that plan into action immediately...and worried about my president's health! He looked tired and gaunt. I wondered if he was smoking more or if he is getting good, restorative sleep. Without my conscious agreement, my Mommy Brain kicked in hard! And I accepted that I'm just not a solid, rational judge anymore; I'm just a little bit too smitten now.
And I got hung on Joe Biden's tie, because now we've got the makings of a serious fetish going on. My brain is helplessly ruminating, "Have tie fashions changed while I wasn't looking? What's the message of a wide, solid orchid tie? Does he know it clashes with the Stars and Stripes? Did Mrs. Biden make that choice? And does Hillary know that her long hair thing is seriously unflattering? She now has no neck. And, speaking of necks, I wonder which blazer will Rachel Maddow wear tonight? Wait! What the hell did Mr. Obama just say about teachers?!"
I'll write rationally about politics again, and soon, but for now let me just get this off my chest. Maybe if I throw it up here, it'll stop haunting my neural pathways and I'll be free to engage the jobs plan with my pre-frontal cortex again.
You, on the other hand, may be stuck with it.
I noticed the ties and the fingernails too! Strange on so many levels. And so superficial, like they all have a bunch of cosmetologist/designer staff making them into polished overhyped packages of Velveeta ... We don't know what kind of sh** is in it and it's not even real. As crazy and unelectable as Ron Paul is, at least I can respect his honesty and (batsh**) authenticity.
ReplyDeleteBut what really gets my blood boiling is "the burst of sour, embittered laughter and the oppositional, pusilanimous mugging by the Republican [children/chimpanzees]." These people disgust me. They have no dignity, no common decency. It is difficult to be rational about people who disgust me and who I'm starting to hate. And I'm not a hater.
Whatever else anyone wants to say about it, Obama's speech was superb. Those Republican arsholes who claim it was merely political stumping and partisan politics apparently haven't seen themselves in the mirror lately. Did I mention they disgust me?
P.S. I was raised on Camelot, The KIng and I, West Side Story, The Sound of Music ... Love the song!
Great. Now I have a mental image of the GOP contenders doing choreographed dances and singing, "When your a Repub, you're a Repub all the way..."
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, demagoguery and marketing play major roles in campaigns, "selling" candidates like products through emotional manipulation. We haven't come that far as a society, it seems.
Nance, you're always right on the pulse of things. I noticed the ties too. Especially Huntsman's, it was a real eye-popper. Did you also notice the absence of US flag pins at the Repub debate. What's up with THAT?! (Isn't that something Rick Perry would call treasonous?)
ReplyDelete"I like to be in America! OK by me in America . . ." is now spinning in my head.
I have taken to not watching, or even listening to, anything political. Too much smoke-and-mirrors makes it hard to see what you're looking at, y'know? (And it becomes ever more difficult to avoid the instant commentary. It's like watching football on TV.) Instead, I read transcripts.
ReplyDeleteThe one of last night's speech (at NPR and no doubt elsewhere) struck me as pretty much pitch-perfect.
When Broadway show tunes get stuck in my head, I often find yielding to the genre's darker and/or wryer voices to be a good antidote. Sondheim, say. Consider, for instance, "The Little Things You Do Together" as political allegory.
We missed the debate because I had class, but saw Mr Obama. But what did he say? I will read the economists today to find out. I personally support the findings of the Simpson Bowles Commission. Revenue is the issure. I and want the tax code overhauled, beginning with the elimination of home mortgage deductions for those second, third, and fourth homes..now that really is a third rail, and no one will touch it. I don't agree with Mr Simpson's milch cown illusion refarding Social Security, nor Mr Parry's ponzi scheme. Medicare and Medicaid are different matters.
ReplyDeleteThe spouse has been spending too much time watching Fox "news." I'm not looking forward to the next election and the bickering between the candidates and with my spouse. What was I thinking when I married a Republican?
ReplyDeleteJann aka #1Nana
Thanks for holding up the mirror for the rest of us to see ourselves. I think our reactions to political symbols/images/sounds are just another example of what Tinbergen call "supernormal stimuli" where we are biologically wired to respond to certain prompts, even at a higher level than seems logical. So, maybe our DNA pushes us to elect people who wear the trappings, etc., even when our frontal lobe says: 'huh?'
ReplyDeletehow many people voted for obama as opposed to voting against bush?
ReplyDeletei think a lot of people, myself included, don't so much vote for one candidate but vote against the other guy. if the republicans were smart they'd keep a very low profile and say as little as possible giving people less to vote against. i suspect they'll give people lots to vote against.
I'm so jaded that all I hear when any politician speaks or spits, Democratic or Republican, is the wa, wa-wa of Charlie Brown's teacher. And seriously, how can anyone get any kind of work done, never mind sign ground-breaking bills (is that an oxymoron?) with nails like that?
ReplyDeleteListening to the President's speech and all the political banter, as well as the constant regurgitation of 9/11 events(this tenth anniversary is breaking me apart), and news of heightened security (duh) proved too much for me to digest. Seriously, driving home from the market this morning I had a complete neural block, total sensory overload, I simply couldn't absorb another sight, sound or smell. I could not, could not even remember who our vice president is (does it matter?). Something was very wrong.
And then I heard this: Rais Bhuiyan , founder of World Without Hate, and victim of a Muslim hate crime, speaking of the man who shot him point blank in the face. And I think: jeez, can't we put aside our petty arguments, our hate of anyone connected with the opposite party and just pass this jobs bill, dammit?
Oh, and I remembered who our VP is, too. Michelle, right?
I think I'm going to go watch Damn Yankees.
(And I like where your mind gloms, Nance.)
I was wondering the same thing, when is someone going to tell Hillary With No Neck, to cut it out already. Or off, in this case. And the purple hued tie thing.... Charlie Rose has worn one for years. Maybe it's finally caught on.
ReplyDeleteWhen Eric Cantor said afterward (paraphrasing), "there are some things here we can work with," I actually, for that brief moment, didn't despise him. It felt that good to have the President show his cajones again.
And my WV is "gents."
One accouterment no presidential candidate can do without is the American flag lapel pin. NOT wearing one is tantamount to an outright act of treason! Hell, candidate Obama was assailed for just such an offense and he quickly donned a pin which surely would have lost the election for him had he not.
ReplyDeleteHe probably should have told the American people the truth in his "jobs speech": that there are no jobs to be had, they've all been hauled away, so get used to it.
Reminds me of the lyrics to a John Prine song:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
What I noticed was a room defined by dress. Democrats bright and colorful. Repubs looked like a mortitians convention.
ReplyDeleteOur roles were reversed. I was the one as a teen who brought West Side Story into the house. But probably because my mom, who was really the one who loved Broadway, was too busy with younger brothers and because I was head-over-heels in lust with Natalie and would have sought out anything she did.
We never watch TV so I don't get distracted by things like ties. In fact I don't know what most of the candidates look like. But I must admit to some wandering of the mind during political talk.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that occurred to me at 3 AM when I was trying to get back to sleep: since I was born there have been 13 presidents. None of them was a nut. We did have a crook, a sufferer of Altzheimers, a lazy rich boy who couldn't be bothered and some other less than stellar performers. But no real nuts. So I predict that the Republican candidate must be either Romney or Huntsman or the Republicans will lose the election. All the other Republican candidates are just too crazy. I fear for my country.
Enjoyed your post, Nance, and think that you've definitely hit on something. We tend to get distracted by insignificant details, trivial things like clothing and nails and hair length. Politicians understand the importance of appearance.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that doesn't mean that we have to be seduced by their efforts. Frankly, I don't care about the length of Bachmann's nails, nor Hilary's hair. I detest our focus on evaluating women in positions of power based on their appearance. We don't do that with men. We need to stop falling into that trap. I liked the color of Biden's tie because I'm crazy for any hue of purple, but I missed the other ties although I did notice in the Republican candidates debate that Romney and Perry had on suits that were too close in color and cut which made them more difficult to distinguish easily.
I took notes during Obama's speech because I wanted to be able to recall all of his points. I find that taking notes makes me pay attention to the content.
We have the ability to reason; we just need to use it. I've never voted against anyone, only for someone.
Your points are all valid, Nance, but I work to remember that we have the ability to think and refuse to be manipulated.
All of this gloom, despair, and disillusionment that far too many of us keep succumbing to is getting old. The world does not have a known end date in spite of the 2012 prediction. We have seen bad times before; this is not the worst times ever. It's no time to be like Melanie Wilkes and take to our beds with the vapors; it's time to channel Scarlett O'Hara, grab a handful of dirt, and loudly proclaim to the heavens our intention to survive. After all, tomorrow is another day.
Bachmann's fingernails drive me bananas. Her whole shellacked look turns me off. I know people say she's good-looking but I think she's very artificial, inside and out.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so maybe that's not the most important thing here... :)
After watching just a few minutes of the republican debate I came away agreeing with what Jon Stewart said about Mitt Romney. He wants to be president so bad Al Gore can taste it.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing was that while I detest the man anyone rational and sane person should be terrified of Rick Perry.
I've noticed the tie thing lately on Jeopardy, too, but assumed the fashion lapse was just a side effect of eccentric intelligence. Considering Boehner's wide pink one on the night of the speech, that can't be the case!
ReplyDeleteAs all of this is mere "marketing" tricks, it is hard to take it seriously. Except for one very scary fact. They market candidates because it works. Bachmann has been marketed into office here for two terms. She never answered a real question. Her "handlers" ensured the public never allowed her off script. I picture the trailers for the movies "Wizard of Oz" and "Wag the Dog".
ReplyDeleteSo, do we get what we deserve?
Divine, Dahlin' - just divine. And damn, I wish I could write as wittily, imaginatively and expressively as you. I read the whole thang word for word, including the comments. All very interesting and some more than a little intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess that the need to keep my blood pressure under control was a factor in opting out of watching the debates. Just seeing a few "highlights" on FB was almost more than the old ticker could stand. Really, what a collection of imbeciles.
I agree that people's physical attributes or how they dress doesn't have a hell of a lot to do with much of anything in the inner sanctums of the brain cavity. I do, however, have a couple of mildly catty observations. Poor Hillary. Long hair has never been very becoming on her but she needs to wear scarves to cover the increasing number of chins and the decreasing length of her neck. She, like the president, looks very tired. Michele looks just as she is - plastic. If you goosed her, she'd probably crack.
Seriously though, I totally agree with CD in that very first comment. The bored looks, the laughter, the smirks during the presidents address was totally unacceptable by any measure - disrespectful, classless and undignified. No, they have no decency.
As far as voting goes. I have this rather old-fashioned belief that every citizen who can, has a patriotic duty to vote. I also believe very firmly that with voting comes a duty and a responsibility to be informed. Not to pay attention to what's going on in the world of politics, no matter how boring or unpleasant it may be, is unpatriotic and a sure invitation to a nation where voting will not only be not a right, it won't be a privilege.
This very phenomenon--managing perceptions--today drives me nuts. In my comparative youth, I spent 10 years with a media consulting company that did that kind of work. One of their mottos was "the perception of the truth is often more important than the truth itself" and another was "perceptions become reality in their consequences." Think about that for a while if you want to scare yourself. It simply bothers the hell out of me how people don't even KNOW they're being manipulated by simple images or placement of images or linguistic framing. I hear my progressive friends repeating the nonsense they've picked up almost subliminally from the environment. I love this post. This says something very important, and people won't find this kind of content on the Big Important Newspapers (AS IF) or TV networks. (And you won't catch me posting about the Repugs because it's pure advertising for them.) (I did write one post on Newt for Pope, but that was irresistible.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this!
I missed both the Republican thing and the Obama speech -- so many thanks for filling me in with your clever analysis. But as I read the comments, etc., I think I made the right decision: I did my blood pressure a favor and just skipped the whole circus. Anyway, I basically agree with schmidleysscribblins but the politicians just can't deal with reality, so what are ya gonna do?.
ReplyDeleteI'm still holding off. I may start paying attention next summer or so. I'll miss some blog posts out of it all, but my health is too important. That said, my own congressman wears a bow tie. That's special. And whenever I see any woman with dragon fingernails all I can think of is "how does she manage the arpeggios?" Now off to google images of Hillary.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly isn't just you. I remember noticing Huntsman's tie and okay, Biden's, too. Like you, I look and Obama and worry about his health. His wife must be apoplectic that he's going to run again.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Show ran footage of some of a press briefing where reporters clamored to ask the press secretary questions about the date conflict (when Obama would address Congress) instead of asking questions of substance about jobs and the economy. How sad is that.
Maybe it's just a matter of time until we have Stacy London as one of talking heads on Sunday morning round tables. (big sigh...)
1. My music brain plays the same songs. We must be tapping in to the same frequency. 2. My Democrat brain finds comfort within the folds of your blog posts. 3. Carly: sigh. 4. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insights!
ReplyDeleteGreat songs. The tie thing is defintitly perplexing. It's probably a new crop of "spin doctors" who are dressing pliticians to look like leaders or to gtive certain subliminal messages. It used to be politicians wore red white and blue in some conservative combination. White shirt, blue suit, red tie, or blue tie, or red and blue tie, etc. But all this pink and lavender? And yellow? I think they are subliminally trying to make the person noticeable to the brain center by placing something eye catching that can be associated with the person. Later on, it will give you a good feeling about that person. They try and do just about everything imagineable to make those lasting impressions.
ReplyDeleteMitchell's fingernails are definitely supposed to distract you from her mouth. If you concentrate on her hand gestures, you might miss the drivel spilling out of her mouth.