My Question to Joe-Sixpack and Jane Boxofwine:

[wolven7]

"It's time that normal Joe Six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency." - Sarah Palin

"We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism." - Sarah Palin

So, taking these two statements, together, what do I hear?

"You're average, and that's not just okay, that's AWESOME! Shit, it's SO awesome, the entire WORLD should be as average as you! Nevermind that I just called you a bunch of drunks who don't care about complexity and nuance!

"Fuck constantly trying to make ourselves better! That takes Effort and hard work, and a will to engage complex issues. What if you don't get 'em, by golly? You'll look stupid, you betcha! Better to never do a dang thing to elevate ourselves and the rest of the world, and tell anyone who does that they're an elitist sonuvabitch! Darn Tootin'!

"So come be Vice President! 'Cause if I can do it, YOU sure as hell can!"

How do people not see this? Am I seeing this wrong? Am I just an angry man, with angry words?

Someone, please, explain this to me.

Comments

[nausved.livejournal.com]

What? You have a hard time relating to a former beauty queen and girls' basketball team captain, who has lived in the wilds of smalltown Alaska nearly all her life, had a tanning bed installed in the governor's mansion, and has a daughter pregnant out of wedlock?

I mean, that's a snapshot of the typical (and extraordinary) Joe Six-pack American right there. If you can't understand what she's saying, you're clearly not a man of the people—you're out there on the fringe with the rest of us un-Americans.

[hametsunosaturn.livejournal.com]

Am I seeing this wrong? Am I just an angry man, with angry words?


No, that sounds about right.

[plantyhamchuk.livejournal.com]

You aren't the target demographic. These words aren't for you.

The last two elections have been won because someone was able to convince people that they were someone people would like to have a beer with. Yes, she's telling people that she's average, just like they are, and look how far she's come - it is intended to inspire people who never even considered they could be in office, who felt intimidated by people different/better educated than they are. It's the right's version of Obama's messages of hope and change. There really are lots of hockey/soccer moms who are a valuable voting bloc, and the right is trying to snatch that up as much as they can.

The message that Americans are exceptional workers is buttering up people who don't identify with, or think of themselves as being, particularly intelligent. Last time I checked, intelligence wasn't something that was lauded in popular culture, so none of this is a surprise, really. The mythos of the American Dream, of people pulling themselves up by the boodstraps because they are hard working, and people of good moral character, something solid you could depend upon, like Mom's apple pie. Wholesome.

It's proven already that people will eat this stuff up, because that's how we ended up with Bush in office all these years.

So yes, you're an angry man with angry words. They aren't courting your vote here.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

No, the question isn't Who she's talking to, the question is, Why Don't People Want To Be Both?

You can be a "normal, hard-workin' Joe," and still have a will to engage the world, and make it better. They're not different things.

My question is, Why are we enshrining and crawling inside of this willful ignorance? Why is "we can be better" taken as an insult, rather than a clarion call?

Why don't people want to realise that they can be smart, hard-working, engaged, sophisticated, and appreciative of the simple things in life, all at the same time?

Why does the majority of the country seem to abhor complexity?

[plantyhamchuk.livejournal.com]

Well, for one it means taking responsibility. And as much as the American Mythos babbles about about responsibility, they always talk about personal responsibility these days. You hear far less about civic responsibility. It seems to be lumped together with "socialism", as if these things are somehow unAmerican ideas.

Complexity requires thought which requires effort which requires giving a damn which requires thinking that you can achieve your dreams, that you have power. People in this country have been trained to be consumers, not thinkers or doers. The world that surrounds us (I hate to use this phrase, but it's appropriate) is toxic. People are inundated with messages not about how powerful they are, or what they can achieve, but about how if they only had X then they'd amazingly happy for the rest of their life. These things take a toll. And it's happened because they've allowed it to happen as well. Marketers have exploited weaknesses in the human psyche, so people are full of their bread and circuses while the world comes crashing down around them. They no longer have the skills or the mindset to adapt well to the changing conditions of the world.

Honestly I think this country suffers from a massive lack of real, authentic self-esteem. And the more the marketers can cripple that, the more people will try to fill that inner vacuum with things things things. So when you tell people things about change, you're asking them to make changes when they may be barely just surviving, just holding on to where they are. Or, perhaps, they've already on some deep sub-conscious level bought into the lie that there's no point in caring, because they haven't seen any connection between their efforts and any meaningful results.

What's that quote? People may not remember what you say, but they'll always remember how you made them feel.

And in case I seem all gloom and doom, I think that there are real solutions to these problems. I think teachers that inspire the best in their students, particularly k-12, make a remarkably profound affect on the lives of the citizenry, and on greater society as a whole.

[elioraceit.livejournal.com]

because most people really aren't that interesting.

SImilar rant in my household lately.

[teididh.livejournal.com]

Have you read this one?

This guy sums it up gorgeously.

What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents—and her supporters celebrate—the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:

"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"

"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."

Re: SImilar rant in my household lately.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

That is BRILLIANT.

[the-old-songs.livejournal.com]

You are an angry man. You are not JUST an angry man, nor a WRONGLY angry man. She's an idiot and she seems to encourage her Wal-Mart acolytes to aspire, not to overcome their idiocy, but to become such charismatic idiots that the world is hoodwinked into promoting them.

*vomits*

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Isn't that just freaking Terrible.