I listen to various political
campaigns and representatives go back and forth and think to myself that it's a
wonder that any of them were able to pass a high school English class... I'm
talking about limited comprehension, a lack of recognition and/or acknowledgment
of available context clues, selective and faulty interpretations of text,
unexplained leaps in logic (plenty of post hoc), total disregard for tone, and
an overuse of abstraction and cliché.
Really, we should all be offended (or at
least those of us with a 10th grade education) by the insult to our
intelligence and sagacity...
As Novembers nears and the ridiculousness gets
even more ridiculous, please do not be distracted by misleading sound bites and
misspoken and out of context interpretations of the truth. And if listening to
the political discourse leaves you feeling like your IQ is a few points shy of
average, just know that it's not you; it's your recognition of the dumbing down
of the conversation...
Do not wait for Obama or Romney or any other
representative to educate you because that education is not coming and do not
believe the multimillion dollar-fueled, half-truth/lie-driven super pac ads
that you see on TV because the well leave you uninformed.And most assuredly, do
not throw any of that nonsense at me during intelligent debate or discussion
unless we are agreeing from the start that nonsense is acceptable... at which
point I will insert unicorns and Never Never Land into the discussion.
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ReplyDeleteAs always, you make great points in a well-organized argument. The problem with them insulting people’s intelligence, though, is that they are not framing their arguments for intelligent people. The goal of the two campaigns (although predominantly the Republican side) is to get votes from “the other side of the bell curve”. Seriously, while the difference between a person with a 130 IQ and a 70 IQ may be a full 60 points in measured intelligence, their one vote each counts equally in an election. The folks with the 70 IQ cannot always understand nuanced debates over theory and facts, and frankly they are often bored/intimidated/pissed-off by them. But give them a simple, emotional argument that says “you’re good, they’re bad, so we’ll support you and punish them”, and they are happy.
ReplyDeleteSo you’re right, they aren’t going to educate people because educated people are too unpredictable. Intelligent and informed people will split their votes along ideological lines. Unintelligent uninformed people will vote for whoever validates their desire to feel important in a country that can care less about them… and they will respond in great numbers. The media only makes the situation worse, since they have tailored the “news” to fit firefly-level attention spans by using sound bites and repetitive slogans instead of explanations. Journalism is out the window, and has been replaced by 12 minute lead-ins for the next commercial break.
I needed a place to get that off my chest. Thanks.