I was engaged with someone on Twitter yesterday who began parroting these lines to me over and over. I was bigotry and hate; he was change and progress. He quickly spoke of me as an immoral monster - the same list of terms you’d think. There is this caricature of a right-winger that embodies everything they’ve been
From a cognitive politics standpoint, and I used to work in that space, the poster is gold. A one word slogan that sounds good, but says nothing in particular, with a very striking graphic of the candidate in red, white, and blue. If Obama broke America, it's because someone did an outstanding poster.
I never have disliked Obama and found him reasonable. The people behind the scenes could have been the problem. . Now ,Joe, I've never disliked a president more and I'm 66.
People (Americans, generally) are basically weak-minded. They don’t have a rudder. They swing this way and then that. They latch onto fads, like this catchy campaign.
Penn & Teller did a “man on the street” thing once attempting to get environmentalists to sign a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide from the atmosphere. People signed right up with no thought. They signed up to ban… WATER. They concluded, calling this type of people “joiners” - they are missing convictions and that “rudder” in their lives and just want to be a part of something. Want to ride whatever wave is “cool” at every juncture. To be on the “right side” of everything always.
This campaign was no different. I can say with confidence that many people only voted for Obama so they could say to future generations that they “voted for the first black president.”
Of course. Its the fundamental axiom that allows the left to feel moral high ground:
Progress=Future=Good
Conservative=Past=Evil
This is the programmatic propaganda. Progress for the sake of itself, and the faster the better! Nothing from the past can be seen as good, not 50 years ago, not 10 years ago, not 1 year ago. This is where all arguments for deconstruction of civilization find their legs. “The manufacturing economy in the 1950s was pretty good.” “The 1950s was misogynist and homophobic you bigot, thats what you fantasize about!?!?”
There is nothing that can be learned from the past, not a single insight to be gained, because Past=Conservative=Bad
Likewise there is no new cultural trend that possibly be undesirable, nothing new that can be criticized, because Future=Progress=Good. Gay marriage was good, but really its not good enough and it just upholds outdated ideas of cisnormativity and suffocating monogamy, so actually non-binary polygamy is better. Why? Bc its newer! We can come up with other rational but thats all we need. Everything new is progress. New words, new norms, new laws, new products. Its good progress bc Future=Progress and Progress=Good. New norms about piercing every inch of skin, good. Old norms? Bad. This way progress never ends, and there is no destination.
The revolution has no finish line. Change is the highest goal. All memory of simpler times is evil bc thats conservative and nostalgia is in the past, which is evil. Only the present moment, current thing, and future thin tmro is good.
From a cognitive politics standpoint, and I used to work in that space, the poster is gold. A one word slogan that sounds good, but says nothing in particular, with a very striking graphic of the candidate in red, white, and blue. If Obama broke America, it's because someone did an outstanding poster.
I never have disliked Obama and found him reasonable. The people behind the scenes could have been the problem. . Now ,Joe, I've never disliked a president more and I'm 66.
People (Americans, generally) are basically weak-minded. They don’t have a rudder. They swing this way and then that. They latch onto fads, like this catchy campaign.
Penn & Teller did a “man on the street” thing once attempting to get environmentalists to sign a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide from the atmosphere. People signed right up with no thought. They signed up to ban… WATER. They concluded, calling this type of people “joiners” - they are missing convictions and that “rudder” in their lives and just want to be a part of something. Want to ride whatever wave is “cool” at every juncture. To be on the “right side” of everything always.
This campaign was no different. I can say with confidence that many people only voted for Obama so they could say to future generations that they “voted for the first black president.”
I know why Mehmet Oz lost. I saw his signage. If it was this good, he might be in the Senate, and Fetterman would be less stressed.
You have a viable point. But it’s bad, and I hate it! 😔
Tell you what, get me on Ron's sign committee. It's going to look like this, except the face will be his and the word will be "RON"
He'll win by a mile
Of course. Its the fundamental axiom that allows the left to feel moral high ground:
Progress=Future=Good
Conservative=Past=Evil
This is the programmatic propaganda. Progress for the sake of itself, and the faster the better! Nothing from the past can be seen as good, not 50 years ago, not 10 years ago, not 1 year ago. This is where all arguments for deconstruction of civilization find their legs. “The manufacturing economy in the 1950s was pretty good.” “The 1950s was misogynist and homophobic you bigot, thats what you fantasize about!?!?”
There is nothing that can be learned from the past, not a single insight to be gained, because Past=Conservative=Bad
Likewise there is no new cultural trend that possibly be undesirable, nothing new that can be criticized, because Future=Progress=Good. Gay marriage was good, but really its not good enough and it just upholds outdated ideas of cisnormativity and suffocating monogamy, so actually non-binary polygamy is better. Why? Bc its newer! We can come up with other rational but thats all we need. Everything new is progress. New words, new norms, new laws, new products. Its good progress bc Future=Progress and Progress=Good. New norms about piercing every inch of skin, good. Old norms? Bad. This way progress never ends, and there is no destination.
The revolution has no finish line. Change is the highest goal. All memory of simpler times is evil bc thats conservative and nostalgia is in the past, which is evil. Only the present moment, current thing, and future thin tmro is good.
Spot on! It is such a destructive and rabid engine.
..and because i agree with you , I then must suffer from Stockholm syndrome. How'm i doin'?
The ideology of change for change’s sake is useful for enriching the people who have a lot to gain by “disrupting” the current paradigm.
💯
Well said! Highly intelligent and sane thinking! Thank you
See Gary Saul Morson's seminal essay "Leninthink": https://newcriterion.com/issues/2019/10/leninthink