ToDaZeD New Meme Watch
swarming like a termite bloom
Chatting with a perfectly reasonable person yesterday—a pretty dang conservative mid-westerner—I ran across some of the results of the Palin smear disinformation campaign. [I’m pretty sure I’m not using the correct word for this phenom, but as I don’t speak Russian...]
For one, this working woman began by saying, “Palin should stay home and raise her children.” After picking my jaw off the floor I probed for more of her views.
“I don’t trust her - she’s mean. ...and she has no feeling for other women who can’t do all that stuff she can do.”
...
“And she has those views those religious views on abortion. she’s gonna make it illegal—I know it!”
Having finally regained the power of speech, I asked, “Since she’s never made a move in any of her elected positions to impose her, admittedly, deeply held beliefs on anyone else, i>how do you know?”
“She hasn’t? Well, she will!”
I pursued, “How? She’s running for Veep - a position that consists of opening the newspaper every day to make sure the POTUS is still alive and the rest of the day is yours. A coupla state funerals, maybe a tie-breaking vote in the House and ..... nuttin’.”
“McCain’s gonna die and then she’ll be POTUS! Being a POW for 5 years can’t have had no impact on his health, yanno.”
Me: “His mom is 90 and sharp as a tack.”
She continued, “He’s gonna die and she’ll be POTUS and then she’ll make her changes.”
Me: “POTUS can’t do that—it would have to come from the Congress or from another SCOTUS decision. Yanno Bush holds that view and it hasn’t even been brought up in 8 years.”
She: “And she wants to ban books!!”
Well, you know the facts behind that… no need for review, which I presented, in full, to my interlocutor.
All in all, I felt like I was trudging uphill with this normally rational, fact-friendly person. These memes are well designed, with sharp little hooks that dig in deep to the psyche—kinda like a fox-tail or fillaree barb.
Here’s a new one I heard in passing on the raadio, so I googled it. Amazing how this crap astroturfs spreads amongst the grass-roots. If it weren’t so dangerous, it’d be fascinating. [fleeting mental image of cobra and mongoose]
We are at war for more than an election—we are at war over the very notion of rational, fact-based decision making.
If you are of a mind, check around with your local acquaintances and see if you can play a round of Find the Memes.
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