Liberal messaging in post-Bush America a little like the bin on the last day of an 80% off shirts and slacks sale: everything has already been picked over and the only stuff left is either outlandish and grotesque, or made for life forms that are not remotely human.
Because in the age of robotic political liars...
The soulless political lackeys who will do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g for money...
And clueless meatsticks who sop it all up with a biscuit
and square every unpleasant circle by just ignoring all inconvenient facts...
...the marginal utility of sharpening the Liberal Message is getting smaller and smaller ans smaller.
The problem is not that there is anything particularly incorrect or unAmerican about what the Left believes. It is simply that, however manifestly and provable true Liberal ideas may be, who exactly is it that we think we are going to reach with our sharp and fact-rich messages, and to what purpose?
The Right just shrugs off the "predictable results of their recklessness", and pivots lockstep-machine-like directly from destroying America by their own direction action to "rabidly and nearly unanimously opposed every single attempt to dig ourselves out of the hole they created for us" without missing a beat. (Both quotes from Kevin Drum)
The problem is that our media will reflexively ignore anyone bringing up anything remotely in this ballpark as "shrill".
The problem is that the uninvolved 50% have no idea what we're talking about, and don't care.
We on the Left (and believe me, me I include myself in this group :-) routinely behave as though we were performing a "Why Liberals are Nice and Conservatives Suck" play in front of a neutral-but-interested audience who could be turned to the Light if we could find just the right magic words to say.
Sadly, this stopped being true a long time ago.
4 comments:
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Try something new.
Or put another way, way too many people don't care and way too many people who do care do so in a way which is just sick and wrong.
"the uninvolved 50% have no idea what we're talking about, and don't care"
This is because they think they're watching something real when they turn on the news or when they hear politicians argue.
Our "message" must be entirely devoted to mocking and delegitimizing the entire mainstream media (even the "good" media, which except for Krugman is carefully orchestrated to not be good enough) and all conservative politicians. After a quick factual rebuke (which is so easy nowadays), the rest must be insults and derision.
Our response to these people should be the same as if someone tries to seriously discuss who's good enough to win an upcoming pro wrestling match.
Once again, may I recommend dogs as a satisfying alternative to contact with "reprogrammable bots" aka our neighbors. Dogs make sense. They understand English better than Republicans and they have much higher ethical standards. It's the difference between someone who licks the other guy's ass just to be sociable or a wingnut who does it to appease the baby jebus. The cuddly part is just a gratuitous perk.
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