October 6, 2004
DINGEL-NORWOOD!!!!:
Why Don't Americans Care?: Do you know who Halliburton is? Dick Cheney? How about Karl Rove? Alas, most Americans don't (Mark Morford, October 6, 2004, SF Chronicle)
Let's be honest. Percentage-wise, few people in America really give much of a crap about what's going on in the hallowed halls of politics and power.This is what we in the media and maybe you in the media-consuming audience tend to forget far too easily: This country is simply jam-packed with millions of people who have no time for, or interest in, politics, or media, or environmental policy, or education, or global issues, or which presidential candidate lied his ass off about which aspect of his military career and which Orange Alert is totally bogus and how many soldiers are dying for what imbecilic war.
It seems hard to believe. But the general rule of thumb is that major cities are slightly more attuned due to aggressive media saturation and how issues tend to make themselves known more urgently, more immediately, whereas Middle America is a scattershot conglomeration of the politically apathetic and the actively disenfranchised, full of people far too busy with their lives and kids and jobs and zoning out on "Fear Factor" and "Monday Night Football" to care about following the elitist, ever dire dramas playing out on the nation's gilded stages.
Most Americans, in other words, have no idea what the hell a Halliburton is. Or a Karl Rove. Or a Donny "Shriveled Soul" Rumsfeld. Or a Lockheed Martin. Or a Carlysle Group.
The Kerry campaign is running a mystifying ad on the radio here that tries to tie Prince Bandar, Halliburton, Dick Cheney and the President together. No one who doesn't have their own secret conspiracy decoder map could possibly follow the whole convoluted thing, even if they knew who the Prince and Halliburton were. And they're running it during Rush Limbaugh. Is any air entering the bubble the Democrats live in? Posted by Orrin Judd at October 6, 2004 11:27 AM
Donny "Shriveled Soul" Rumsfeld.
Now that's a touch of class.
Americans don't care about or how Morford cares. They think based on a life lived. The cocoon metaphor should be revisited. What it seeks to depict more closely resembles mummy wrapings.
Posted by: luciferous at October 6, 2004 11:51 AMYeah. Just when you think you've come across a leftist who just might be trying to be reasonable, rational and civil (although still wrong), they go and revert to form.
As for the ad mentioned in the posting— what's worse is that Limbaugh listeners are the ones most likely to know those names, and because of that, least likely to be pursuaded to some Leftist fantasy. What a stupid waste of George Soros' money.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 6, 2004 11:52 AMAd hominem attacks are the surest sign of a bankrupt argument.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at October 6, 2004 11:57 AMJeff:
No they aren't. They can be a sign of impatience or contempt or any number of other things as well.
Posted by: oj at October 6, 2004 12:06 PMFor someone writing about overall awareness, he should learn how to spell Carlyle.
And I am quite sure that people in the 1950s were all aflutter with knowledge of Mossadegh, Kim Il-Sung, Chou En-lai, Eva Peron, Josep Tito, and so on.
What the guy won't ever concede is that despite the lower voter turnout, average Americans know more about 9/11 than most 'European' intellectuals, who deny the truth (just like the majority of the Arab world).
Posted by: jim hamlen at October 6, 2004 12:33 PMHaliburton, Rove, Rumsfeld, Lockheed Martin, Carlyle? Morford has got to be kidding. With the possible exception of Rumsfeld, has there ever been five less important political details in all of history as far as the average voter is concerned?
I would hope the average voter hasn't wasted their time learning about those entities. When I talk to people, I've found that they are pretty well informed, at least adequately informed to make decision based on their subjective preferences.
Posted by: Bret at October 6, 2004 12:45 PM50% are out there hoping we make the right decision for them. We'll do our best, but would like a little help once in awhile. Especially on this one.
Get out the vote! Help defeat George Soros! (See Town Hall today.)
Posted by: genecis at October 6, 2004 1:30 PM
Whoops! Err make that FRONTPAGEMAG.COM, headline article.
What you're seeing is something I've encountered in various fandoms over the years:
EXTREME TUNNEL VISION.
It's like a D&D rules lawyer who can quote the entire Player's Handbook, DMs Guide, Monster Manual I & II, and all the supplements (from all publishers) from memory but can't remember his own phone number.
Or a Furry Fan to whom EVERYTHING'S GOTTA BE FURRY! FURRY! FURRRRRREEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Or Parker and Stone congratulating themselves on their Masterpiece South Park episode Terrence and Philip: Not Without My Anus (you know, the in-joke fest that turned off so many of their fans it almost killed the whole series).
Same thing with political tunnel vision. Nothing exists outside of Politics, Politics, Politics, Politics, Politics, and Politics (and the latest Conspiracy Angle).
Mr. Morford's argument, distilled, is that the US went to war in Iraq primarily to enrich American big business and political elites.
As well as being extraordinarily cynical, it's a fairly stupid argument. There are far more profitable ways for a coven of political and business interests to milk the government, ways that call far less attention to themselves.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at October 7, 2004 2:19 AM