john_anderson_ii
10-22-2007, 10:09 PM
We are up against a powerful propaganda machine. One that would make the Third Reich's machine a little bit jealous. I fear they have something down to a science that we, the Ron Paul Grassroots, are just beginning to understand. I'm sure there's a word for it, probably an entire science that ends in -ology, devoted to its study. I don't know the name for that field of science or study, so I'll call it wordsmithing and I'm sure I'm not the first to do so.
Time is finite resource, and the News Media runs out of attention getting time the second a viewer tunes in. When trying to sway an opinion you have just seconds, maybe even just a single sentence to captivate the mind of the viewer. That sentence better contain the hook of a powerful word or phrase that will immediately call to mind vivid imagery. Take, for instance, Islamofascism. It's a word used by our adversaries every chance they get. Why? Because in the mind of the average American, that word conjures up strong imagery. A single word that describes men with guns in headscarfs goose-stepping down a street lined with burka clad women while a mushroom cloud hangs over New York City in the background. This is the kind of propaganda we are up against, and they are damned good at it.
Most people are naturally fearful. This propaganda machine has learned how illogical people can be when it comes to fear, and its learned how to direct this fear. I've seen the illogical fear in people over and over. Parents throw a fit if a schools fire drill's result times are slow. Yet those same parents would riot if an armed guard or officer was placed in the school even though a shooting is statistically more likely than a fire. That's right, reality and statistics be damned, John Q. Voter is more afraid of a terror attack than a carjacking or home invasion.
Ron Paul's ideas are complex, sometimes hard to explain, and they require thinking. The average voter, as we've witnessed, isn't going to think for anyone. We will have to do the thinking for them. Its sad to say, but we will also have to play on their fears. I think by now every non-thinking voter knows he needs to be afraid of something. So far the only people telling them what they should be afraid of is the MSM. We have to tell them what to fear.
How do we do this? We do some wordsmithing of our own. We build a glossary of newly minted words that, in a single phrase, will skillfully convey the ideas of the Ron Paul agenda. Then we all learn this glossary, use them in conversations, and watch the buzzwords propagate.
I can think of some imagery that we need a quip or phrase to describe:
post-victory warpork -- Taxpayer money spent in Iraq after mission accomplished. e.x. "This post-victory warpork is killing the value of our currency."
debt cudgel -- The weapon that China, and other countries that own our debt can use against us at will. e.x "This borrowing is going to work until we try to negotiate our next trade agreement and China pulls out its debt cudgel."
There are many other concepts I think we need words for:
We need a word that accurately describes a government that ignores its boundaries, enacts, and enforces regulation on whatever it damn pleases. We needs words to describe the state you will be in when your dollar is so worthless you cannot support your family. Most importantly we need a word or phrase that will conjure images of what it will be like to live in a free and libertarian society.
Time is finite resource, and the News Media runs out of attention getting time the second a viewer tunes in. When trying to sway an opinion you have just seconds, maybe even just a single sentence to captivate the mind of the viewer. That sentence better contain the hook of a powerful word or phrase that will immediately call to mind vivid imagery. Take, for instance, Islamofascism. It's a word used by our adversaries every chance they get. Why? Because in the mind of the average American, that word conjures up strong imagery. A single word that describes men with guns in headscarfs goose-stepping down a street lined with burka clad women while a mushroom cloud hangs over New York City in the background. This is the kind of propaganda we are up against, and they are damned good at it.
Most people are naturally fearful. This propaganda machine has learned how illogical people can be when it comes to fear, and its learned how to direct this fear. I've seen the illogical fear in people over and over. Parents throw a fit if a schools fire drill's result times are slow. Yet those same parents would riot if an armed guard or officer was placed in the school even though a shooting is statistically more likely than a fire. That's right, reality and statistics be damned, John Q. Voter is more afraid of a terror attack than a carjacking or home invasion.
Ron Paul's ideas are complex, sometimes hard to explain, and they require thinking. The average voter, as we've witnessed, isn't going to think for anyone. We will have to do the thinking for them. Its sad to say, but we will also have to play on their fears. I think by now every non-thinking voter knows he needs to be afraid of something. So far the only people telling them what they should be afraid of is the MSM. We have to tell them what to fear.
How do we do this? We do some wordsmithing of our own. We build a glossary of newly minted words that, in a single phrase, will skillfully convey the ideas of the Ron Paul agenda. Then we all learn this glossary, use them in conversations, and watch the buzzwords propagate.
I can think of some imagery that we need a quip or phrase to describe:
post-victory warpork -- Taxpayer money spent in Iraq after mission accomplished. e.x. "This post-victory warpork is killing the value of our currency."
debt cudgel -- The weapon that China, and other countries that own our debt can use against us at will. e.x "This borrowing is going to work until we try to negotiate our next trade agreement and China pulls out its debt cudgel."
There are many other concepts I think we need words for:
We need a word that accurately describes a government that ignores its boundaries, enacts, and enforces regulation on whatever it damn pleases. We needs words to describe the state you will be in when your dollar is so worthless you cannot support your family. Most importantly we need a word or phrase that will conjure images of what it will be like to live in a free and libertarian society.