And now… rather than attempt to absorb and learn from this latest (implied) criticism of their belief system they have chosen to gin up their propaganda machine and spin faster than ever throwing out ever more outlandish conspiracy theories. In bygone days this approach might have worked but, in the internet age what we used to call the judgment of history has been promoted to a real time exercise. To those that are carefully watching the ebb and flow of current events, the paucity of the right’s arguments and by extension their argument style is becoming increasingly less and less effective outside the isolated slice of the population that is currently serving as their feedback loop. As a consequence it comes as a shock to their system when a big story like this breaches the walls around their information island and demonstrates that reasonable, articulate and thoughtful people not only disagree with their conclusions but also completely reject their arguments.
The current right wing outrage is not really about President Obama; it is a panicked reaction to the scary reflection of themselves that they are seeing in their mirror.
And now… rather than attempt to absorb and learn from this latest (implied) criticism of their belief system they have chosen to gin up their propaganda machine and spin faster than ever throwing out ever more outlandish conspiracy theories. In bygone days this approach might have worked but, in the internet age what we used to call the judgment of history has been promoted to a real time exercise. To those that are carefully watching the ebb and flow of current events, the paucity of the right’s arguments and by extension their argument style is becoming increasingly less and less effective outside the isolated slice of the population that is currently serving as their feedback loop. As a consequence it comes as a shock to their system when a big story like this breaches the walls around the information island that they have created and demonstrates that reasonable, articulate and thoughtful people not only disagree with their conclusions but also completely reject their arguments.
The current right wing outrage is not really about President Obama; it is a panicked reaction to the scary reflection of themselves that they are seeing in their mirror.
This is the definition of propaganda from Wiki: "Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist". They further go on to say that 'Propaganda is generally an appeal to emotion, not intellect.' Sound familiar?
They really should not be allowed to call their content 'news' much less put the 'fair and balanced' tag line behind it.
But noooo... perhaps the simpler explanation is that the higher ups just knew their flock better. They knew that if the outsiders got too close the players they would be revealed as idiots. It doesn't matter if the idiots are organizers or the crowd... the results are the same... bad press and the chosen are revealed to be chumps.
But... it got me thinking in terms of an analogy between the present challenges confronting government and the times in which these bygone totalitarian regimes came to and held power. Specifically, the bygone apologists for these tyrants would without fail claim; they "made the trains run on-time". Perhaps she sees a truly effective government effort that makes "the trains run on time" as a precursor to an assault on our liberties?
To stretch the analogy a bit further I pose this question: What would the Republican governing model that sought to "make the trains run on time" look like? As I see it there would be three major components to the effort: 1) Any railroad governing body would be composed of former employees of the railroad industry. 2) Any regulating effort would be completely voluntary and would urge the railroads to submit reports showing on-time performance. 3) To prepare for the inevitable fatal crash that tends to occur when the chaos theory is used to control which trains run on which tracks... Compose and have on file a press release that deplores the loss of life but explains that such is the cost of doing business because after all; trains are dangerous things. 3a) Alert any sympathetic press to be ready to label any critics of the tragedy as being ‘pro horse and buggy’.
In case the line sounds familiar to you... I was originally used with much more dramatic effect by the traitor Captian Fletcher in the Clint Eastwood movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales.
]]>If the 'reasonable' republicans buy into the wing nut created alternate reality that they have used to motivate their base, they alienate the swing voters that they need to win just about any election. If they ignore the wingnutters and stick to the high ground they never make it through the nomination process.
So, FOX News... was a couple of points of short term gain on the nielson charts worth it if it means rendering your party impotent?
]]>Have you ever noticed that people who make bad decisions tend to make a lot of them?
]]>In my mind anyway… this latest headline points out one of the fundamental problems that led the Republicans to their current situation. They tend to treat any crisis as a public relations problem solvable by spin instead of actually solving the underlying problem. At some point they need to come out of the river of denial and accept responsibility for their actions, change their methods and move on.
When you are preaching to the choir and are trying to remedy a problem with harmonics it less than helpful for you to urge them to just sing the same notes LOUDER.
I find that the question asked on ABC made it sound like any action would have political overtones. I think a better, more telling approach of both the questioner and the Obama administration is to assume and assert that the rule of law is the paramount concern and should inform both the legal compass guiding their future actions and should guide any investigations into any past acts.