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Obama's PR Nemesis: The Paragraph
Aug. 5th, 2009 05:38 pmI've been thinking a lot about Obama and health care and why this is getting so stupid. People will insist on raving about how National Health Care will hurt old people and make all kinds of cost-based decisions on who is valuable enough to receive care under the new plan. What baffles me about that is that no one seems to be saying that what they claim to fear is exactly what most middle class or poor people are dealing with right now. Insuring the uninsured seems like such a no-brainer. Unless you're one of those people who honestly believes taxes is the same as stealing (Mainly because you want to tell strangers how to live their lives. Myself, I'd like to tell the military they can't have another dime of my tax monies until they stop being such dicks to gay people, but I'm not allowed to do that.) and that all poor people are stupid, lazy, and undeserving of medical care, this is an easy issue.
So what's the problem? I think I know. I think people have a difficult time understanding Obama's plan or even his basic attitudes. Why? Because he speaks in paragraphs. As Americans, we are used to politicians translating everything they do into short, crisp slogans and declarations. "Shock and Awe" "Zero Tolerance" "No Child Left Behind" "Patriot Act" "Mission Accomplished" They are all nationalistic rallying cries that sheep can get behind without really thinking. Nevermind that "No Child Left Behind" was a scam to lower school funding and the "Patriot Act" implied that you were unAmerican for not wanting to piss on the Constitution because you're frightened.
To understand a paragraph, you have to read the whole thing. Then you probably have to think about it. Sadly, this is too much work for many, many people including those who enjoy discussing politics or perhaps blogging about them < / irony >. The average person's apathy and unwillingness to put for that effort is a real stymie to someone like Obama, who doesn't speak in rehearsed one-liners. People will insist on loving one-liners.
Interestingly, this need to define concepts in single sentences is something that has long bothered me about many Christians. You know how they recite single lines from their holy book as if one sentence represents the entirety of a concept? I hate that. You wouldn't do that with any other book...or maybe you would. Take Jaws for example. The great fish moved silently through the water. Okay, that does happen in Jaws. It's accurate and factual. But it is by far the whole story. What about the attacks? The Mayor's dicketry? Ellen Brody's treacherous affair with Matt Hooper? You wouldn't know any of that because you stopped listening after the first sentence. So you certainly should not claim you understand the novel Jaws because you agree with that one single sentence. So it is with holy books, and political concepts. "Do onto others" is a great concept, but not so much when the rest of the book says it's okay to allow your daughters to be raped by strangers or that you should kill a man for toiling on the sabbath.
I have my own issues with Obama. I'm still peeves about DOMA and DADT because they are both stupid and grounded in a faith I do not share--and am not required to share by any US law. But dammit, health care is important. Keeping the Earth habitable for humans is important. Jobs are important. So for fuck's sake people, just let the man work without shouting your FOX/Lou Dobbs inspired one-liners at him. You embarrass yourselves, and indeed, all of us.
While I'm here complaining, I think I'll mention that Shark Week used to be about the sharks. Thusfar this year, it's all been about the attacks. The point of Shark Week in the beginning was conservation and awareness of why sharks are important and awesome. Filling people's heads with stories about little boys getting killed and "innocent" honeymooners getting attacked does nothing more than incite fear and therefore hatred. (In America, we love to hate that which scares us. That's why there's so much unscary horror out there, but that is a rant for another day). If I'm sitting in my living room and a cheeseburger floats by, I may very well take a bite of it (okay, not really because that's creepy). It's the same for sharks. If you go in the ocean, you're making yourself equal with ocean animals. There is a food chain there, and the only reason we think we're at the top of it is because we were smart enough to invent gunpowder. For serious. Maybe I'd be better off pulling out my Air Jaws/Ultimate Guide VHS's from 2005-2007
And finally, from the pages of "Duh" Magazine: Psychologists finally decide you can't therapize someone out of being gay. Great, you also can't meditate yourself into a new eye color. Well played, psychology.
So what's the problem? I think I know. I think people have a difficult time understanding Obama's plan or even his basic attitudes. Why? Because he speaks in paragraphs. As Americans, we are used to politicians translating everything they do into short, crisp slogans and declarations. "Shock and Awe" "Zero Tolerance" "No Child Left Behind" "Patriot Act" "Mission Accomplished" They are all nationalistic rallying cries that sheep can get behind without really thinking. Nevermind that "No Child Left Behind" was a scam to lower school funding and the "Patriot Act" implied that you were unAmerican for not wanting to piss on the Constitution because you're frightened.
To understand a paragraph, you have to read the whole thing. Then you probably have to think about it. Sadly, this is too much work for many, many people including those who enjoy discussing politics or perhaps blogging about them < / irony >. The average person's apathy and unwillingness to put for that effort is a real stymie to someone like Obama, who doesn't speak in rehearsed one-liners. People will insist on loving one-liners.
Interestingly, this need to define concepts in single sentences is something that has long bothered me about many Christians. You know how they recite single lines from their holy book as if one sentence represents the entirety of a concept? I hate that. You wouldn't do that with any other book...or maybe you would. Take Jaws for example. The great fish moved silently through the water. Okay, that does happen in Jaws. It's accurate and factual. But it is by far the whole story. What about the attacks? The Mayor's dicketry? Ellen Brody's treacherous affair with Matt Hooper? You wouldn't know any of that because you stopped listening after the first sentence. So you certainly should not claim you understand the novel Jaws because you agree with that one single sentence. So it is with holy books, and political concepts. "Do onto others" is a great concept, but not so much when the rest of the book says it's okay to allow your daughters to be raped by strangers or that you should kill a man for toiling on the sabbath.
I have my own issues with Obama. I'm still peeves about DOMA and DADT because they are both stupid and grounded in a faith I do not share--and am not required to share by any US law. But dammit, health care is important. Keeping the Earth habitable for humans is important. Jobs are important. So for fuck's sake people, just let the man work without shouting your FOX/Lou Dobbs inspired one-liners at him. You embarrass yourselves, and indeed, all of us.
While I'm here complaining, I think I'll mention that Shark Week used to be about the sharks. Thusfar this year, it's all been about the attacks. The point of Shark Week in the beginning was conservation and awareness of why sharks are important and awesome. Filling people's heads with stories about little boys getting killed and "innocent" honeymooners getting attacked does nothing more than incite fear and therefore hatred. (In America, we love to hate that which scares us. That's why there's so much unscary horror out there, but that is a rant for another day). If I'm sitting in my living room and a cheeseburger floats by, I may very well take a bite of it (okay, not really because that's creepy). It's the same for sharks. If you go in the ocean, you're making yourself equal with ocean animals. There is a food chain there, and the only reason we think we're at the top of it is because we were smart enough to invent gunpowder. For serious. Maybe I'd be better off pulling out my Air Jaws/Ultimate Guide VHS's from 2005-2007
And finally, from the pages of "Duh" Magazine: Psychologists finally decide you can't therapize someone out of being gay. Great, you also can't meditate yourself into a new eye color. Well played, psychology.
