Whenever I feel despair-- as I have for the greater part of the last few days, thanks to Gallup and everybody else-- it takes something special to lift my mood.
Because when I feel this way, soothing words, happy inspirational messages, and magical thinking just won't cut it. They are emotional empty calories, making me feel as unsatisfied as if I'd eaten a bowl of sugar cubes for breakfast.
I need some metaphorical "real food"-- action, planning, cold hard facts... and useful knowledge.
I believe I found something of the latter in the link below.
I wasn't going to click on the Progressive Wire link entitled "Obama sinking poll numbers analyzed". Oh, great, I thought to myself. Another singer in the chorus of despair, another "Democrats fail at messaging" link.
I am just as angered as anyone else at how good the Republicans are at emotionally connecting with people-- and in my opinion they should not have the right to do so, because their political and economic philosophies are, frankly, sociopathic.
That comparison is actually spot-on: sociopaths are very good at tugging your emotional heartstrings, making you feel great as they're stabbing you in the back. Come to think of it, I think this should become a required liberal talking point. But more on that later.
I wasn't going to click on this link... but I am glad I did, for the pieces of data I found gave me an insight as to how we ended up here, and a focused, targeted, smarter way of getting out of this hole.
Thank you, Rack Jite, for this piece of useful knowledge.
(Sorry about the blurriness of the image. You can see it clearer here.
First thing to keep in mind as you look at that graphic: The Democrats had a six-point LEAD in the generic Congressional poll as recently as July 25.
They experienced a 16-point drop in one month. Which should be looked at more closely, and thought of as perhaps something different than a vague, systemic messaging failure:
Economic indicators just do not change things to such a degree so fast. So I am hard pressed to find any issue large enough to precipitate such a sudden drop other that the Mosque controversy which carried us through most of August amplifying the Republican Lie that the President is a Muslim. Those "he's a muslim!" polls show an increase from 11% up to 18% of Americans, and those who believe him to be is a Christian went down from 48% to 34%.
In other words, it's good old fear used to motivate. And good old gut reactions rearing their ugly heads.
We have to remember how much of progressive and liberal ideals are about overcoming our gut instincts. To choose the better art of ourselves, even though it's often harder; rather than the easier, more emotionally satisfying, but nastier side of ourselves.
The jump seems to be more about American Religious intolerance than anything I can come up with. If you think this drop was precipitated by something else let us know. What else happened at the end of July, and as you can see, again on or about August 25th?
Why, of course: the Beck rally, August 28th.
No matter how small or large the crowd, it was a masterpiece of using the language of heroism to peddle fear, of using the language of rejuvenation and healing to foster division and promote cruelty. You can bet that not a single teabagger walked away thinking they were anything but good, kindhearted people. Besides, it made them feel happy and part of something larger than themselves.
The rousing of religious intolerance still works its magic. And it-- as with any other simplistic message-- works no better than on economically depressed people.
I know this from canvassing. A month ago I met two Democrats who were so distraught about their own economic situations, that one said he wasn't so liberal anymore, and the other said she fully supported the Arizona law. Yet, when I dug a little deeper, I found out what was really bothering them.
Anxieties about immigrants, brown people, and "other people" are nearly ALWAYS anxieties about one's own livelihood.
What's important to keep in mind about the economy is not just its joblessness and economic inequality, but its capriciousness. The fact that in most jobs now, you could be high-performance today and fired for performance reasons tomorrow. How our livelihoods have becomed more and more dependent on the gut instincts of both our bosses and the market.
This economic and workplace situation is tailor-made for creating a large group of people who put survival first. Who live only for today, who see making long-term plans as futile, who don't have the luxury of high ideals... or for putting ourselves in other people's shoes.
That is exactly the kind of person the Republicans want us to be. The better to be easily and instantaneously manipulated. And though Eugene Robinson went a bit too far with characterizing Americans as spoiled brats, the decades of conservative cultural dominance have certainly reduced us to emotional children who haven't the wherewithal to allow room for other people's feelings and needs at best; who actively celebrate selfishness and greed at worst.
Plus, they know damn well that humanity can create very little of worth when it's stuck in survival mode. And they do their darndest to keep us this way-- through robbing us of time, which is necessary for deep thought and reflection; of control of our own financial destinies, of control over our own health. So that, of course, THEY can be the ones setting the cultural tone and writing our unspoken societal rules.
They break us down and then pop up on the horizon, bearing feel-good messages about putting down the scary Muslims, so that THEY can be the ones to build us up again, so that we turn to THEM for guidance and comfort. Just like a sociopathic relationship. Or a cult leader.
Their jingoism is so emotionally satisfying, and we are overly impressed by charismatic leaders and postures of strength and moral clarity, because their policies conditioned us to be that way.
*~*~*~*
I am impatient by the sometimes generic nature of the messaging advice so many of us have for the Democrats. Just telling someone they need to connect with their voters emotionally doesn't cut it. There needs to specificity, and a mechanism that does not require a Koch-brothers budget... or Obama-level charisma.
I want to see smarter, more targeted, more incisive narratives, ones that take aim at the cultural values that have gotten our society to this point, as much as anything else.
I want to see the very concept of the narrative turned on its head: I want to see Democrats take the Republicans' emotional manipulation head-on.
I want to see acknowledgement of the fact that livelihood anxiety makes us more craving of control and order from someone, anyone... and more likely to listen to emotional appeals and jingoistic answers, anything that promises to make the misery stop. I want to hear reminders that we are better than that, that giving in to our worse instincts helps no one, that there is a better way to take care of our own, assert control of our lives, and belong to a group.
I want to hear a call to watch our elected officials more closely, to pay attention to their nice, soothing words designed to foster a sense of belonging and heroism... and see if the deeds behind them operate, instead, out of cruelty. I want to hear reminders that it is not outside our power to do this, that we DO have the time and energy to think critically, that it is a trap to think all we can do is survive.
We need to ask not just, "Why aren't the Democrats better at messaging?" We also need to ask ourselves, "How do we inoculate ourselves against emotional manipulation?"