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"Sarah's likeable, so vote against her"
This is an interesting essay on FiveThirtyEight.com, on how the Palin phenomenon is working well on the emotional level.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/dems-must-give-voters-explicit.html
When facts are used to discredit Sarah Palin, emotion trumps facts. The
instinct is to defend against the facts. Consider: you meet someone and
like him or her on a gut level. A stranger – someone who doesn’t have
built-up personal credibility with you – gives you a list of reasons
not to like that person. How do you react?
...
...“Sarah Palin is very
likable. There’s nothing wrong with liking her. But this isn’t a zany
sitcom where a friendly, plucky Everywoman with dangerous ignorance on
foreign policy gets to be vice president. Americans don't deserve
someone too scared to do a press conference. Fun for a TV show, but
running the country doesn't permit second and third takes when you mess
up the scene."
And then the argument on how to handle this weirdness:
a man at Palin's rally in Carson City heatedly told
an Obama volunteer in response to his anti-Palin argument, "I don't
trust the facts!" Some people hear that and think: "I cannot relate to
someone who would say that." I hear it and think: "Defended around
emotion and feels under attack." People under attack can't be
persuaded. And persuasion is the goal, remember? You can’t reason
someone out of his or her feelings. But you can validate those
feelings, buy their willingness to listen, and then calmly make your
logical case.
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Comments (3)
I was so involved trying to figure out the formatting that I submitted before adding my own take on this.
I realize this may be too "touchy-feely" for those who A) believe that facts ought to be persuasive an B) want to rip the lungs out of the GOP.
I feel your pain....
But a large part of this battle is going to have to be fought at home, around water coolers at work, and in the coffee shop. And it's there that this advice can bear fruit.
All he's saying, I think, is that you don't have to agree with a person's feelings about Palin to acknowledge that they have those feelings about Palin. If you don't do that much, they're not going to listen to anything else you have to say.
September 15, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't find her likeable. Nor do I find her "pretty" or even "attractive".
Apparently I'm not susceptible to the predictable hype -- sexist hype, at that: no one describes a male candidate as "handsome" as if that were a qualification for office.
Or an excuse to ignore her being absolutely unqualified for anything but being extremely vindicative, nasty, and ruthless.
From all appearances, and the facts of her upbringing, she puts herself ahead of everything else. Everything else.
September 15, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
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September 15, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
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