Recently the New Republic put out an absolutely fascinating piece by John Judis expaining how new research in psychology explains the Republican success exploiting the WAR ON TERROR.
From the article:
This strongly suggested that Bush's popularity was sustained by mortality reminders. The psychologists concluded in a paper published after the election that the government terror warnings, the release of Osama bin Laden's video on October 29, and the Bush campaign's reiteration of the terrorist threat (Cheney on election eve: "If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again") were integral to Bush's victory over Kerry. "From a terror management perspective," they wrote, "the United States' electorate was exposed to a wide-ranging multidimensional mortality salience induction."
Two other diaries in the last week covered this article: dopper0189's diary about why Bush won West Virginia in 2004, which this article also covers, and Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse's diary, with an emphasis on the psych ops. I'm writing a third, because it's so fascinating. And because the Dems need to understand it, so they can develop a response. Basically this research explains Giulianni's game plan, and the lack of success of John Kerry's. There's interesting discussion after both the New Republic article and in the previous diaries. These are two comments from Major Danby and Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse that move beyond the research for solutions:
- [new] Wow, political psychology and campaign mgmnt! (2+ / 0-)
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Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, gabriella
This is my kind of diary! (While my Ph.D. was in Social Psychology, my specialization within that field was political psychology.)
The terror management research was initially seen as pretty odd within the field, as I recall, but over time picked up a lot of respect. The problem is that it's a one-way effect; there's nothing (except perhaps highlighting norms of fairness) that pushes people away from "save me daddy!" conservatism the way that fear of death drives people towards it.
Pointing out that Republicans have not been Strong Fathers, but Unreliable Fathers (I'm sure Lakoff has better terms for this), as noted above, is one approach to countering this effect. But there is another one, capsulized in the phrase "Cognizance Destroys Conditioning." And this is a great day to discuss it, what with the Ari Fleischer videos coming out.
I think that those ads are a lot more powerful than many people here do, in part because of effects like the one cited here. But there's a way around that. Go through them, bit by bit, and help people understand how they are being controlled, lied to, and taken.
Here's what I'd love to see on YouTube. I'd like to see a presentation that showed the whole 30" spot all the way through, and then showed it again, stopping it at all points for a thorough critique, pointing out all the lies, misrepresentations, false insinuations, and cheap sales tricks. Get people good and mad about how they're being manipulated. And then show it through a third time, at full speed, with a "pop-ups" effect where the lies and misrepresentations are labeled as such in real time.
Do that often enough and well enough, and our opponents will have little choice but to abandon those kinds of ads. I'm reminded of trial lawyers taking some damning deposition testimony and, rather than trying to hide it, playing it over and over until the jury gets inured to it, even sick of it. That's a tactic to try.
Anyway, great diary, PD, and recommended.
I manage, but except where indicated do not speak for,
the Ron Shepston for Congress campaign in CA-42. Join us!
by Major Danby on Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 01:28:59 AM CDT
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Major Danby
It seems to me that these men are saying, based on their studies, that there is one way to push people away from "save me daddy" and that is to bring up issues that show Bush is no great protector. They cite polls to show this actually happened to bush due to iraq war, gop corruption and Katrina.
Seems that dems need to work on two "fronts": negate the save me daddy b.s. by showing public that bush has actually placed us in a more dangerous security position with his wars and policies. And, then also push people away by raising the other issues. While the iraq war serves a dual function (negate and push), corruption by GOP, WH, etc I think is a push off as well as Katrina.
I like your idea about ads. I think dems should do it for bush, cheney, gonzo, everyone. Take their words and do point/counterpoint to show the lies, misreps, false insinuations and cheap sales tricks. This should be more than one ad, so the public sees just how much they have been tricked and lied to. No one likes to made a fool. Heck, you can try that technique down in orange. Just be sure and give us links to ads!
by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse on Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 11:17:27 AM CDT
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