"It's 3 am in the White House. The phone is ringing. Somewhere in America a house is being foreclosed on."
"Who ya gonna call?"
"I am Hillary Clinton, and I approved this ad."
I wonder who is going to call President Hillary Clinton at 3:15-someone who has a toothache?
It's more than just a primary she is losing.
5 comments:
Hey! I liked that ad that Hillary ran!
Why? Well, I was teaching my students about propaganda and how fear is often used to sell a candidate/idea/product. Many of them had seen that ad, so they understood what I was talking about.
So, it helped me to do my job. Other than that, it was totally ridiculous, of course.
Of course it was ridiculous. When a phone rings in the White House at 3 am, it should be because a war has broken out, a world leader has died or something like that.
This so-called housing foreclosure "crisis" is not something that causes phones to ring in the White House at 3 am.
What's really scary is that some Madison Avenue type gets paid big bucks because he's figured it out that we really are stupid enough to be influenced by this nonsense.
To quote a wise man:
Geez Louise!
Well, I'm always sure to end my lesson on propaganda by asking the class, "So, why do politicians and advertisers use these techniques?"
Usually there's at least one bright kid with the correct response: "Because it works!"
Personally, I was hoping that Batman would answer the phone. Why isn't he running?
Which leads to the next question- why does it work? Is it because too many of us think with our feelings rather than our reason?
When you think of it, I have a handout which I use in my reading class. It consists of two mythical news stories from two mythical newspapers which are reporting on the same story-the construction of a new school. Assuming all the facts are true, the two stories express no opinion, yet, the reader is left with a definite impression from one paper (pro) and another impression from the other (con). Sort of an exercise in reading between the lines.
This is an example of something the press does on a regular basis-not in the editorial page, but in the front (news) section.
It works because we're not purely logical beings (some of us even less so) and our emotions and biases often play a factor in how we feel.
I always tell my students that if they think that they can't be influenced by propaganda, then they're even more succeptible to it.
I like to think that it doesn't affect me, but if I look at some of the things I've bought and supported over the years, I can be as weak as anybody. At least I can admit it though.
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