I will admit to knowing some liberals, and also to knowing some Democrats. Sometimes I hear these liberals and Democrats wail about how pitifully weak campaigns from the left can be. They say you watch a lefty web ad and it goes on for five years and misses the point, and then it just ends. You watch a Republican ad, and it's 30 seconds long and ends with very effective kick in the head.
Me, I'm not going to argue that lefties cannot do politics or that righties are better at it. But I will say that this year at least, liberals have shown themselves to be extraordinary at one simple, magical thing: Memes. Maybe it's because progressives are big on Reddit. Maybe it's Tumblr. Maybe it's Twitter. Maybe it's all of those together. Whatever it is, the left owns the meme.
This week, of course, it's Binders Full of Women, lots of them.
But really, the Great Lefty Meme Parade has been rolling all year. Exhibit A:
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell will be Governor Ultrasound for the rest of his political life, thanks to Ali Davis and @jesidres.
Exhibit B: Romney Etch-A-Sketch.
Exhibit C: Eastwooding.
rusty-patti.tumblr.com
Exhibit D: We Are the 47 Percent.
Exhibit E: Romney's Whiteboard.
Exhibit F: Paul Ryan Gosling (h/t @EzraKlein)
@PaulRyanGosling
Exhibit G: Big Bird.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement on their way to protest Mitt Romney.
Exhibit H: Texts from Hillary.
This list leaves out, mostly, Seamus and the @FiredElmo sub-meme and an infinite number of hashtags that never got all the way to pictures. If you want to add some, hit the comments, please, and thank you.
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The reason the left is winning the meme, is because most republicans think Meme is the waitress at their local diner that they call "darlin" and tell to get'em more coffee
Dawkins didn't know what the word meant when he coined it.
There is the idea of patterns that we match to situations, and that these accounts of the episode of sense inputs can be encapsulated and communicated virally. Consciousness is collective with these communicated fictions.
The meme of the first debate was that Romney was an alpha male, and the President wasn't. He didn't lose because he was authentically confronting the substance of what Romney was saying. Obama lost because he confronted the logic, not the meme that Romney was communicating. But memes like viruses cannot live if they are not repeated. The meme of Obama the effete intellectual non alpha male is exactly the meme that killed Dukakis and Kerry.
Obama regards communication at the meme level to be beneath the dignity of honest politicians. That's why there was such poor communication about Obamacare when it was needed, and that is why he disregarded the advice of his communications advisers in preparation for the first debate.
He thinks memes are silly and that people shouldn't be guided by such superficial encapsulations. What the President does not appreciate is how fundamental such fictional viral patterns are to human consciousness and communication. They project order on the chaos of an abstract expressionist cacophony of sense impressions and data we acquire about the world.
If they buy the GOP memes, they elect Romney. It is as simple as that.
Dawkins didn't know what the word meant when he coined it.
There is the idea of patterns that we match to situations, and that these accounts of the episode of sense inputs can be encapsulated and communicated virally. Consciousness is collective with these communicated fictions.
The meme of the first debate was that Romney was an alpha male, and the President wasn't. He didn't lose because he was authentically confronting the substance of what Romney was saying. Obama lost because he confronted the logic, not the meme that Romney was communicating. But memes like viruses cannot live if they are not repeated. The meme of Obama the effete intellectual non alpha male is exactly the meme that killed Dukakis and Kerry.
Obama regards communication at the meme level to be beneath the dignity of honest politicians. That's why there was such poor communication about Obamacare when it was needed, and that is why he disregarded the advice of his communications advisers in preparation for the first debate.
He thinks memes are silly and that people shouldn't be guided by such superficial encapsulations. What the President does not appreciate is how fundamental such fictional viral patterns are to human consciousness and communication. They project order on the chaos of an abstract expressionist cacophony of sense impressions and data we acquire about the world.
If the US public buy the GOP memes, they see the world in those terms and they elect Romney. It is as simple as that.
Is DNA the "first meme"? Or is it RNA?
The Common Cold called, and it wants its virus back.
Chris, the reader's digest version is that for the last decade and a half the research is demonstrating that epigenetics control the readout of memory patterns stored in a constellation of synapses. Short term memory does not use genes. Also- activations for emotional memories happen in different places in the brain than those for storage of episodes, or for motor- physicality memories- they happen in different locations from primitive to so called "higher levels" which we have greater awareness of. The emotional visceral memes like those responding to alpha dog "leader" identification, are strongly emotional and in common with species with much more rudimentary levels of consciousness.
Anyway, at the extreme micro- molecular level, the sense stimuli trigger the epigenetic response in a single nerve cell. when the correct sequence of nerve cells have fired, a particular pattern is "recognized" and the synapse fires, indicating a particular phenomenon has been detected. This is not deterministic. It's the state of mind you are in when you don't know what a painting is of. Your senses might pick out possible features- maybe an eye here, or a haystack there, but your mind is having a wild time arguing with itself as it makes sense of the inputs.
Kind of like what happens before everyone has settled on what the debate meant.
After that, everyone stops thinking. The arguments Obama actually made don't matter, the point that he was making that Romney's math doesn't add up-- all those contrary impressions- information contrary to the dominant account of the episode-- all that stuff is tossed and forgotten.
It's what we do when we think we saw one thing and it turned out to be another. The country listened to a snake oil salesman, and anyone who thinks that he didn't win the debate is "in denial"- someone with some sort of cognitive disability.
When in fact, the group think in the media is the psychosis. The idea that all cognitive dissonance must be resolved in the quest for certainty. The left is comfortable with such ambiguities, but the Right is not. The problem is that the lack of certainty can tend to immobilize the immature. That's another reason why the incurious like Bush II are able to project certainty and confidence, and followers mistake it for an excellent leadership quality.
Humph. sorry for the ramble. Not exactly reader's digest.
Although the chemistry of memory is becoming better understood an an intricate level, (good citations in this WP article), the relationship between that level and higher level cognitive structures is still very mysterious. Neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio refer to the "meme"-patterns used for recognition of phenomena- as "maps".
Never be sorry for a ramble. Ahem.
Thank you, JohnMesserly - I really enjoyed your explanation :)
JohnMesserly, Thank you - I found that fascinating. Please continue to ramble.
John, Thank you for the fascinating info. Please ramble some more.
Chris's levity actually has some reality to it. There is some sort of relationship between memes and DNA, though most of it is what is being investigated is at the layer above- the layer that controls how the neuron's DNA is expressed at a particular point in time. Some philosophy of mind folks make connections between memes as if there are the communication version of proprioception "mirror neurons", but its shear speculation, and premature at that since the neuroscientists are fleshing out many of the details- providing hard science on some of these questions.
The problem of some metaphoric relationship between genes and memes is that of granularity. That is, a distinct pattern corresponding to a meme is not storable in DNA readout of a single cell, but would require large numbers of cells. At least, that is my understanding. I have no expertise in the field but enjoy reading the research papers.
I've often said, Republicans rant, Democrats mock. We're getting real good at it.
We practice on ourselves a lot. when was the last time you say any sign of self deprecating humor from a republican?
Bueller?
That's a good thing, because most Republican arguments these days are pure BS. You can't defeat BS with rational arguments, because debunking takes a lot of work, and making up a new line of BS takes none. Mockery is the best way to defeat BS.
Only in Yiddish.
Dems are postmodern, in the sense that they live in a condition of permanent irony.
Which is not to say the GOP ISN'T postmodern, but they deny it with great earnestness (and no irony), while swimming in a goldfish bowl of the "condition of postmodernity."
What does this mean? (as Martin Luther might say)
I would argue that the GOP is actually MORE postmodern than Dems. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but ride along with me. It's almost like an overriding, self-conscious sense of pervading irony cancels out the postmodernism.
Kind of like an overtly postmodern novel (as in, screw you, David Foster Wallace, I prefer David Mitchell)-- it can be a piece of crap because it has ONLY one plot point, someone looking in a mirror of someone looking in a mirror of someone looking in a mirror... (and so on).
In other words, BORING! God save me from having to read too much overtly postmodern literature. And the footnotes they rode in on.
The world has WAY more interesting plots (well at least 10, or maybe 2) than the endless navel-gazing some postmodernist TRYING to be postmodern.
My 16-year-old niece is taking irony to levels I've never dreamed of, btw. It sort of amazes me, when I'm not just puzzled.
But the GOP? They know how to get it on, postmodern-style (a variation of Gangnam Style).
They (well, Karl Rove) invented, hell--PATENTED-- THE MOST AMAZING postmodern moves in, like, the history of the world.
Lee Atwater applied for the patent, but Karl Rove cashed in on it. What have these guys given us? What amazing things have they wrought?!
I mean, the easy answer is the gall behind the whole "Rubber-Glue" turnabout that Rachel likes to talk about. It is stunning. It can take your breath away. Delivered with a straight face? Simply spin Freudian-Jungian projection postmodern, use rhetorical mirroring and matching of your opponents' latest rhetorical tactic, and turn it back on them! And pull it off without being laughed out of the room! It's brilliant!
Taken a step farther, preclude the mirroring and matching. Take, instead, your latest shameful transgression, and before you are called out on it, PRE-EMPTIVELY ACCUSE your opponent of doing PRECISELY THAT! OMG, that is ridiculously disarming.
And to up the ante further? Employ strategic thinking to project out a chess game (a modernist game, to be sure-- little ambiguity or irony there, but much for determinist Victorians to love) and thing about what sort of deeply transgressive and evil things you would LIKE TO DO. Now, weigh the value of each as a rhetorical accusation against an opponent, and CHOOSE the action based on the presumed damage it would do, accuse your opponent of it, and then freely go forth to do it yourself with utter impunity! That's the ticket.
Of course there's no irony it it, so earnest and direct, but it DRIPS irony. Oozes irony. Ironizes the ironical irony of all ironies. No, wait, there's something EVEN BETTER.
It's a world view, a conservative world view completely embraced by the GOP in following the lead of Rove and the GOP. This one is so rich, it post-dates Lee Atwater, is purely a recent invention.
Authoritarian Relativism. Is that not the most deliciously postmodern thing you've never heard of? I mean. It's just like so totally amazing. Let's break it down. Dems deep in their one-trick mirrors of mirrors could never think up something so bizarrely cool, because they'd never darken the door of authoritarianism in the first place. They love the Enlightenment too much.
But the GOP, they're down with the whole authoritarian thing. It's like second nature to them. Victorian great chains of being, pater-familias, "because I said so," and the deferential tones that you get when referring to pulpits of any sort. (although you'd think their dogs and children would be better behaved, given all the lip-service alpha-bossiness gets in their spheres).
Paradoxically, they've gone off the rails. They can't stop believing in the authoritarian chains of command, substituting this parent for that authority for that preacher for that fear-mongering god. Cuz they're swimming in the goldfish bowl of POSTMODERNITY.
And they're relativists. Utter, mushy, anti-foundationalist relativists. William Perry's "simple relativism," even. It doesn't even graduate up to sophistic lawyer games or teenager manipulations of parents. It is EARNEST. Earnestly earnest. Absolute. This is the law. This is the way it is. This is set in stone. This is TRUE.
And this other thing is also the law. This is also set in stone. This is also TRUE, in the great non-ironical truths of all truthiness True. Because the only things that have value in this world are REAL and TRUE. And by god, this is TRUE.
So there they sit, like Walt Whitman, contradicting themselves, containing multitudes, like Lewis Carroll, believing six impossible things before breakfast. And absolutely certain (absolutely) that they are NOT containing multitudes, NOT believing impossible things.
The mental gymnastics it takes to get there! Amazing stuff! Their name is not even Legion. How does one get there?
You could argue that there are Machiavelli's and Rubes, and that only Rove et. al. are the true Authoritarian Relativists, and they have fully embraced postmodern irony without the authentic earnestness. I tend to disagree, but who knows?
That doesn't deny a vast population of earnest Authoritarian Relativists who ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE AS GOD'S TRUTH, whatever they happen to believe or want to do at any given moment. And just a few moments later, situation ethic be damned, a completely contradictory idea can come along, and they will, without ANY IRONY, embrace that ABSOLUTELY AS GOD'S TRUTH.
It kind of takes your breath away, doesn't it? For all the Derridas and Foucaults and language games and reflexivity in this world, the greatest embodiment of postmodernism, the EXEMPLAR, comes from those who, like a Jungian Shadow themselves, have become the very thing they most deny.
And they do it so much better than any intellectual or liberal thinker ever could!
Chris, your rhetorical vehicle is stuck in 3rd gear. You took so long to get away from the stoplight at the start of your post that most of your passengers probably had gotten out to walk before you got up to speed. Interesting stuff, but you need to tighten up your intro.
It's not so much six impossible things, but oftener six contradictory things. Also, I'm beginning to think that authoritarians do not ignore their self-interests(as liberals tend to rave on about) so much as they pursue their self-needs. They need someone to tell them who to blame. They need someone to tell them that those at blame, regardless of the similarity of circumstances, have an otherness that excuses their failings.
I need to get around to reading Altemeyer's The Authoritarians someday. It's sitting on my hard drive.
Chris, I feel like that lovely rant deserves a toke or twelve to truly appreciate it. Alas, I left the weed behind about forty years ago. I can still appreciate art, even if the Firesign Theatre just isn't as rib-splittingly funny as it once was.
And Miracle, yes, you should stop making excuses and read Altemeyer. No later than Sunday night. Just Do It.
Assuming that one of the moderators are reading, Altemeyer deserves to be carried as a link from this blog.
Miracle: (and anyone else who hasn't read it) readThe Authoritarians now.
I will warn you, it can be profoundly depressing, as there is some evidence to suggest that RWA may have a genetic component, which means we will continue to breed a segment of the population that is immunized against logic, facts and . . . well . . . arithmetic.
Ah well, it was a long week at work, and that rant just came out that way. Shoot me!
Generally, I like Adorno from Critical Theory on The Authoritarian Personality.
Other stuff I like: Richard Hofstadter The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.
creativity, ease with technology, sense of humor....all things the left has in spades compared to the right.
The right, as it turns out, has NO SENSE OF HUMOR...see Dennis Miller as exhibit A
The right does have a sense of humor - they just laugh at the wrong things. Witness Mr. Romney when he is about to answer a question with a lie. You will not have to wait long.
Obviously you're talking post 9/11 Miller who turned into a combination of Bill O'Reilly's parasitic twin and Joe Giudice.
Luckily, Bill Maher stepped up to the plate to fill my need for a replacement god.
The left also loves sarcasm in action...
And do let us lay of Wreath of Satire at the feet of Him, Jon Stewart. [bows head in reverence]
Zora: No! Really? [end sarcasm]
Obama has a 55% female adminstration. Romney entered the governship at 35%, went to 42% and was at 25% when his administration ended. Why the women jump ship? Has anyone considered that if something happens to Herr Romney, then Paul Ryan with his citizenship for fertilized eggs and forceful rape agenda will be the President of the U.S. If you aren't scared by that, then I don't know what would scare you.
Obama has a 55% female administration??? Just think of all the money he is saving in wages! --Oh, wait.....
Maybe the women self-deported . . .
Scares the crap out of me!
I believe with the election of President Obama and the Occupy movement came an influx of new , creative ideas. Michael Moore was correct in his assertion that we need a strong sense of humor to break through to Americans. This aura of negativity and damnation is a real bum deal. I don't want to go back to that. Laughter is the best medicine.
This is all great and all, and terribly cute. But America is one big, dumb ape and it loves it some alpha male. It still buys into the old Western's nonsense of a kickass sheriff who sits down at the saloon, guzzles a quart of rot gut, then climbs on his hossie and rustles him up some bad guys and brings 'em back into town despite getting shot in the head.
Romney and Ryan ain't rustling up any bad guys---they ARE the bad guys. And as far as the rot gut is concerned, Mitt is obligated to pass on even rot-gut-cola-cola. And Paul is trying to see if he still fits in his altar boy outfit for Halloween. No Misters Romney and Ryan, you're no John Wayne!
You're living in the generation where no one's credit is worth a damn but where the FreeCreditScore.com guys can still be heroes.
Think figuratively, not literally. The era of the alpha male CEO sheriff of the WORLD, beaaattch! A world where you get your ass a job when there are no jobs to be had. A world where you cut non-defense discretionary spending and BALANCE THAT BUDGET by kicking Big Bird in the balls. A world in which AUSTERITY results in a booming economy because it's morally RIGHT. A world in which up is down, down is up, the sun rises in the West, supply-side economics works, thinking greenhouse gasses causes global warming is for sissies, fossil fuels last forever, and Cornucopianism trumps Malthus every time. A world that just doesn't exist. That's the old West WingNotReality of a scary big percentage of our fellow citizens affectionately referred to as Useful Idiots.
http://mittsbinders.com/?tag=binder
"Binder? I just met her!"
Shades of grey!
That is a good one. A little kinky but hey what the heck.
A little kinky? I grew up in Mormon country. You obviously didn't read "women in binders" the way I did.
Nope I didn't grow up in Mormon Country and Thank God for that.
Check out amazon.com and look at the recommendations for binders, hillarious. There's a write up, on one million strong against mitt romney, where Ann sold one of her horses fraudently, she injected it with painkillers and steroids to sell it when it was in fact lame. Hot Shot is the name of the horse. Then there's an interesting post from Michael Moore where Mitt Romney is encouraging his millionare buddies to intimidate their employee's to vote for him. Why isn't he being caught up in this, why isn't he being charged or the owners of those companies. For someone who claims to love the military, and our vets, he sure doesn't mind stomping on their memory to increase his chances.. I agree with Bill upton, he said Romney is a collector, he liked to collect business;s, he collected a governership, and now he wants to add the white house to his collection.
I think the horse's name was Super Hit.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/ann-romneys-high-horse
The Amazon site is absolutely hilarious!!!! The "reviews" are about the funniest things I've ever read! Thanks for the great tip and for the much needed laughs!!!
Thanks for that, I just wasted quite a bit of time reading reviews for binders, and I'm not even in need of any binders.
Memes aren't something that can be controlled, they just erupt from the internet as something shiny catches the attention of the masses all at once. Considering most Democrats tend to be younger and more tech-savvy it's fair to say that by sheer numbers the Democrats are better at using memes once they appear. The critical difference to me is that the Republicans try to tell us to be afraid of this that and the other, that everyone is lying and evil and it's a conspiracy out to get you. The Democrats give a smiley and a wink and say, U MAD BRO? On occasion, take yourself less seriously guys.
The country Will put on the lotion. Does Mitt collect butterflies?
He will if there's a leveraged buyout involved!
oops..double post
Bubblegum!
When asked during an interview Ann Romney was asked why Mitt wanted to become President? She answered that it was because She asked him to. She told him how great he would be, so he ran? lol Wow that is feeling your calling for you!
She is just trying to fulfill her childhood dream of living in her dream house with her own personal Ken doll.
Just another Nancy, can we expect all new china ordered for their state dinners?
And you can bet that we'll get the bill for it.
The Republican primary and the Romney Presidential campaign has been/is a 52 car pile up of utter incompetence compounded by a sheer lack of political acumen.
And yet they're closing in on us. In some polls they're beating us.
Had President Obama committed just one of the 10 political career ending moves that Mitt Romney did over the summer, this election would be over.Heck,one poor debate performance did more to end The President's chances of re-election than his challenger throwing 47% of the country under the bus.
And all we have are memes???? Seriously????
I sincerely hope your pessimism is unfounded. There can not be enough 'yes dear women' and men who think a turd in the urinal is funny to sway this election for the rich and the bigoted.
I agree, Dublindave. They'll give Mitt second chances, third chances, a pass on this, a pass on that--why? Because he's the white guy.
No one in the mainstream media wants to talk about how racist our culture still is, and always has been. It makes us uncomfortable. It makes us indignant. But it's there, and it's not going away. It's gotten deeper, uglier, and stealthier these last four years.
I don't think all we have are memes, by the way. But they do provide some lightness to an incredibly depressing and vicious election season.
No, Dave, we have votes. There are more registered Democrats than Republicans in this country. We have to get as many of them out as possible November 6.
Tag Romney a little upset, what is he showing his aggressive primitive ape side inherited from his Daddy. I agree for a group of people that have been given everything they are a load of crap. Hold Tag Romney responsible for what he said no more of that double standard bull crap. Tag Romney needs to apologize and be held accountable for what he said about wanting to hit President Obama. And it is amazing how Republicans will condemn anything something a Democrat will do, but run to kiss the ass of some worthless rich person who would just cause misery, despair, and death for people and literally destroy a civil society. Alpha male that is bull, when he is acting outright like a primitive ape. If Romney the blood-sucking leech gets into the White House, perhaps it will be time than to play as these rich people do ignore any law you don’t agree with and do what you want to do. And if they get rid of Roe v. Wade too bad because that will be something I will totally ignore and do as I wish to, because I am entitled to my freewill given to all of us by God. And any other rights denied to me too bad that will be ignored too.
We are funny as heck, but down seven in todays Gallup. Small consolation, I guess. I do like funny...
This is OUR world . The Republicans are " on the internets...do the Googles " ;-)
Remember also that polling takes place mainly on...what were those called...
LAN lines ?
Wish we could slap Romney, Ryan and all the teabaggers in a binder and send them to storage! OH, forgot ultrasound probe McDonnell!
I do love the memes; they're hilarious and sharp and often do a great job at pointing out the ridiculousness of the GOP. But we're inside the chamber; how do those outside, the independents or Republicans who sometimes vote Dem, see these things? Only 16% of U.S. adults use Twitter regularly (I don't have handy stats on Facebook or Tumblr or the rest). Do those outside the loop see them, and does it affect their vote? Would we be better off spending more time with actual issues of substance, like Lily Ledbetter and the reason pay equality is so important? I don't know, but I think these are important things to consider when we analyze just how much of a success this is, and how much of our energy needs to be spent mocking Paul Ryan's workout face or people dressed as Big Bird (fun as that all may be).
That is a good point. I would like to add, how many people outside of swing states have even seen the "47% video"? It hasn't really been in news stories, the ads don't run in your state, and unless you tune in to political shows outside of Fox, you might not even know what all the fuss is about!!
I was write my comment about in the long run how trivial this is but your posting was much better than mine. I recognize that this is part of the process now and given twitter and the like, will probably continue to be. Short snappy statements rule.
But, it is that...trivial. Had Romney said a "binder of applicants" or a "binder full of resumes from qualified women," this would not be part of the dialog. But, atlast, he didn't. He said a "binder full of women" and now it has become symbolic of the something bigger that does warrant serious dialog.
Messed up that first sentence something fierce. Should read: I was about to write my comment about how trivial this is in the long run but your posting was much better than mine.
That's a great question, whether the memes mean anything in the end. I tend to think some will matter more than others.
Don't underrate mockery. Humor has enormous power to bypass people's biases and make them think about things in a different way. Given the amount of hysteresis in human thought (e.g. confirmation bias) a really biting joke -- and especially a nonverbal one -- has more chance of changing someone's mind than mountains of irrefutable facts.
And Laura, if you like I can have my research assistant (AKA the PhDaughter) dig up some of the literature on that. Although I'm sure you have sources.
Totally, @D.C. Sessions. Also, even though memes peter out, they keep important moments alive long enough for more of the public to hear about them.
This meme begs two questions.
Why did Mr. Romney NEED 'binders full of women' in the first place?
AND
Were they paid as much as the men were in those positions? (the ORIGINAL question, if memory serves)
The binder statement clearly shows that Mr. Romney only considered women as an afterthought when governor and the policies he supports in this campaign show he has not improved that attitude, so he has no concern for 47% of the citizens and marginal concern for 50% of the citizens. Assuming that half the 47% is in the 50%, that still adds up to 74% of the citizens Mr. Romney has only marginal concern for. All of you please vote Democratic.
I know you're focus is business and women, but I'm appalled that so little attention has been paid to Romney's statements about gun violence and single mothers.
Please see if anyone is interested enough in this topic to address it, as I am fed up with the emphasis on single mothers without any reference to absent fathers.
One of the problems addressing the gun violence and single mothers statement is keeping the discussion to helping communities raise these and other poor children. I will do my best.
Mr. Romney's solution is real simple - find another parent (where?). This ignores the fact that if the GUY (not MAN, a man respects people too much to do this to a woman) was parent enough in the first place the woman would not have become pregnant to begin with. Add to this the Ryan budget that CUTS programs and education funding designed to help single mothers and communities raise their children to pay for $250,000 in tax cuts to the rich and you get an idea of how accurate the 47% comments are.
Progressives realize all the above and fight to keep funding for these programs in place. They also realize, however, that communities must make these programs work. This may be apples and oranges, but Libyans stepped forward after the attacks in Benghazi and said 'ENOUGH!' They surrounded one of these militias and took away their tools of destruction. No amount of federal money will bring that about - only communities willing to step forward to say 'ENOUGH!' Each community will have to decide which way is best for them but for me there is no choice - vote Democratic.
Best photo op goes to Sesame Street in the diner. (Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement on their way to protest Mitt Romney).
I have to do it. I absolutely have to. About Romney's bound women - oops I mean women in binders, here is what that really looks like: 1984 painting, "Crucifemme", of an object ... uh, I mean a shop mannequin... in high heels, not a real woman, bound to a gridded structure made by men. I'm sure they will untie her and let her down around 5 pm every week day to magically turn into a Stepford version of a woman to toddle on home and make dinner, but next day come work hours she better revert back to object on cue and be back in those binders, by God, or there will be hell to pay, or should I say hell for pay?. Quite a bind, indeed. Don't get me wrong. I love my high heels 'coz they put me eye to eye with the Dinosaurs... oops, I mean people like Romney.
(For the curious, the painting can be seen here )
AND A USEFUL FACT: Australia has had "equal pay for work of equal value" by women since 1969 and anti-discrimination on the basis of gender was legislated in 1984.
I soooo want a poster-sized "If you can read this, your government is too close" vaginal probe image. Anyone seen them?
The Right has no humor, because humor has to contain truth to be funny, and the Right has no truck with the truth, and truth's primary manifestation: facts. They don't GET it. They have beliefs and ideals formed in childhood and adolescence, and never grew out of them. Ayn Rand, to name one. They are literal types, who easily confuse symbols for the real thing. I hate to say this, but these are the type of people who filled the ranks of the Nazis. This is not hyperbole. True Liberals simply will not subscribe to that sort of thing. The answer is that the underlying emotional tone of your average conservative is fear. He will give up a little freedom in exchange for safety. He fears that his religion may be wrong, so he is vehement about it. The Right Wing hate machine (Rush, Fox---), soothes his fear with anger. Fear sees anger- which includes lying- as a good quality, leadership material. Those in the middle, if they can be made to fear, will vote Republican. If they can be given hope, will vote Democrat.
I hope everyone can take some time to go here today...it is the funniest thing I've seen in ages and so very perfect for the times!
http://www.amazon.com/Avery-Durable-Binder-EZ-Turn-17032/product-reviews/B001B0CTMU/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Just about to mention that one. Funniest thing on Amazon EVER!! Very talented humorists - maybe it's just election season.
The Perry Strong Meme.
http://bgalrstate.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-entry-in-perry-strong-meme.html
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rick-perrys-strong-ad/photos
Whoa! I've never seen this one at all. Are you in Texas?