It's been a busy year so far here at Blogistan Polytechnic Institute. From sadism to seasons to sticky to stupid to squishy, we've covered quite a range, and we didn't stop with S. We've considered coalitions, hashed health care, filleted filibusters, mulled movements and manifestos, pondered privilege, wondered why and washed windows. All in all we've alliterated aloud in a political potpourri of peer punditry.
More below the fold....
Whew, What a Spring! - Part I
As we're between major legislation and before midterm elections, waiting for President Obama's Supreme Court nomination and wading in spilled oil and spring floods, this seems like a good week to take a break and look back at what we've discussed over past four months. Today we'll review the topics offered by the resident faculty. Tomorrow we'll review our excellent guest lectures. So if Saturday should bring some common end-of-semester activity fraught with stress and often disappointment - like a formal dance or something - we'll be ready. Time to tack sequins on those notebooks and tape bouquets to those #2 lead pencils.
January
We rang in the New Year by offering Six Progressive Issues, suggesting our differing priorities can be wedges or bridges, and concluding with the importance of maintaining our balance. The next week we compared the first year of the Obama administration to the first year of Eisenhower's tenure as Allied commander. We discussed long-term vs. immediate objectives in Here and There and critiqued Democrats' performance in Strengths and Weaknesses.
We then turned to the congressional morass on health care and found that Democratic senators' votes don't quite "follow the money." We followed that up with a discussion of corporate spending to drive public opinion, including the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, and how we can help make a progressive bandwagon by speaking up in face-to-face political conversations. We wrapped up the month by offering a three-point Democratic manifesto: people over profits, the earth is our home and not our trash can, and the need for good government.
February
We started February by discussing the Tea Party GOP as a religious movement, and how progressive Democrats can win independent voters. We continued by asking for whom do we advocate, and discussing "what feels good" as compared to "what helps" in that advocacy. That cycle concluded with political seasons, noting that our political climate is still cold, why our politics run in long cycles, and how we can help bring on a Progressive Spring.
We then turned to the Tea Party GOP, suggesting they are a culture of societal sadism, based on 18th century notions of aristocracy, and how we can prove conservatism is immoral.
March
That continued into March with sticky narratives and how progressives value a bigger "we," the role of familiarity and Big Narrators, and how emotional archetypes can make progressive narratives stickier.
We next considered why conservatives' free market fetish doesn't work in Realworldia, because money is stupid and money is a coward, and how we must change our economic language. Our critique of conservatism continued by pointing out real differences between Democrats and the Tea Party GOP, including which century we want to live in, whom we include in "We the People," and how we and our institutions must relearn how to speak Progressive.
April
After a week off we pondered the critical issue of whether the undead will be counted in the 2010 census, before turning to squishy problems and the contrasting needs for caution and enthusiasm in political advocacy. We next saw how narrative devices can help generate political urgency, or not, comparing the ticking clock to the man in the closet in discussing climate change, and why we need to avoid corners with no solutions. The narrative theme continued with a week on the Overton Window, including why we need both "pragmatists" and "purists," the importance of patience and persistence, and offering some impossibly progressive ideas on state and local issues.
Next we spent a week discussing privilege, using the elevator door as an example, and the importance of challenging the language of privilege. Finally we reached the semester's end with a week on group polarization, starting with a spoof of a rant to set the stage, how leaders, bandwagoning, and outgroups push groups toward extreme positions, and why that might not be a bad thing when we see how often group cooperation is extremely positive.
So what topics did you most enjoy? What topics did you least enjoy?
Most importantly, where are you putting the sequins on your notebook, because it'd be so much better if we all matched at that formal dance. Or something.
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Happy Thursday!