tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26542777.post6157547547298117772..comments2023-10-26T01:59:40.483-07:00Comments on The Dividist Papers: Poor Carpentrymwhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181222537529037359noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26542777.post-46980807637069963882010-04-23T08:49:40.418-07:002010-04-23T08:49:40.418-07:00All factions "frame" (propagandize) of c...All factions "frame" (propagandize) of course. It's the amazing expanding disconnect from reality that's so startling. To abuse that poker analogy, sometimes it's like watching someone continue to raise into you when you already have the certified best hand possible. Sure, go ahead, spash the pot!<br /><br />The internet gave everyone the chance to indulge in very widespread near-instantaneous dispersion of propaganda, and the left has certainly led the charge. But at the same time it also provides the tools for discovering and highlighting the missing bits, and the out-and-out lies. Silver linings, etc. <br /><br />True Believers (any faction) will never be swayed from the Doctrine & Dogma, but a large portion of the general public are quite capable of recognizing embedded cognitive dissonance. Not surprisingly, the more indepenent any given voter is from the faith-based factions, the more attention they pay to that embedded dissonance. <br /><br />Current odds for GOP gains in the House/Senate are at 38/8. Obviously the elections are still a long way out and things can always change, but if they were held today there would be a better-than-even chance that the GOP would take back the House by just a hair, and they'd certainly manage to have a solid filibuster-proof minority in the Senate.Tullyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03842067230152580405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26542777.post-85033709459979564162010-04-22T14:55:26.684-07:002010-04-22T14:55:26.684-07:00Apparently Brandeis University did not get the mem...Apparently Brandeis University did not get the memo on on the Tea Party being an unimportant anti-populist non-movement of the privileged. They are instead going with the Tea Party being on the vanguard of an <a href="http://michaelgraham.com/archives/i-wonder-if-brandeis-has-invited-nancy-pelosi-to-speak-at-this-event/" rel="nofollow">emerging Neo-Nazi armed militia uprising</a>. <br /><br />It is indeed laughable when you look at the wildly contradictory "frames" of the Tea Partiers coming out of the left. It is like a child with fingers in the ear saying <i>"Nyah Nyah Nyah I can't hear you!"</i> A breathtaking display of denial. This can only work to the advantage of limited government advocates, fiscal conservatives, the GOP and Dividists in the mid-terms.<br /><br />I am beginning to believe that against all odds, the GOP might indeed retake the majority in one house or the other in November.<br /><br />The left wing "framing" fetish always struck me as odd. It betrays a true contempt for the electorate by insisting that people will only understand the crystal clear image of an idea if it is presented in a correct "frame" by a suitable left wing intellect who can explain it properly. <br /><br />Maybe there was a case to be made for the importance of "framing" when the Dems were an impotent political factor and out of power as the Republicans are now. But now that they hold all the cards, it comes across as nothing but a disingenuous sleight of hand - <i>"Don't worry about what we are <b>actually</b> doing, listen to what we <b>say</b> we are doing."</i> <br /><br />Perhaps the best example of "framing" can be found somewhere over the rainbow:<br /><br /> <i>"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."</i><br /><br />I can't think of a more succinct description of the Obama administration gestalt.mwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11181222537529037359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26542777.post-64901568239912607432010-04-17T08:49:36.550-07:002010-04-17T08:49:36.550-07:00RE: Lakoff -- No argument here, nor I suspect from...RE: Lakoff -- No argument here, nor I suspect from anyone familiar with the millenia-old history of propaganda. Lakoff didn't even remotely invent framing, he simply invented his own systematic structural framework for employing it in specific ways, none of which are terribly original.<br /><br />The salient point of the post, of course, is that Beinart is trying to definitionally exclude the Tea Party movement from being populist, when it most obviously is exactly that. Beinart wants "populism" to be a GoodThink term applicable <i>only</i> to the left. <br /><br />However, populism is defined not by what Beinart wants it to be, but by how a movement ideologically and motivationally perceives itself. Any given populist movement could be good or bad in the view of some of the general public or of specific political or elitist factions, but the attempts to define populism so as to categorically exclude The Opposing Other and retain the GoodThink label strictly for one's own favored movements is laughable.Tullyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03842067230152580405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26542777.post-70172088046962138822010-04-16T07:59:10.344-07:002010-04-16T07:59:10.344-07:00Lakoff is a fraud; "framing" is not a ne...Lakoff is a fraud; "framing" is not a new concept despite Lakoff receiving big credit for it; and Beinart is a deceptive meritocrat who uses his expensive education for the betterment of Beinart, not the betterment of his betters.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com