Posted on 05/17/2009 1:24:30 AM PDT by neverdem
Go check out “Yes, Minister” or “Yes, Prime Minister” on youtube. It was a hilarious show that ridiculed the British Labour party mercilessly back during Thatchers day.
It is a potential gold mine of ideas for lampooning the Demo-Socialists.
Man, this really is a treasure trove. Thanks for mentioning this, I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.
Is there ANY reason the Republicans can’t utilize Alinsky’s tactics against the scumbags?
Great article!
Yes. They don’t have 90% of the MSM to help re-enforce it.
The phrase, “Just not my ears” or “Not my ears”, something similar. Any political cartoonist with a set of balls would have obamaFuhrer crazy.
It’s called arrogance.
I feel it is absolutely essential that we defeat and deflect Alinsky-style ridicule. I too think that it ceases to exist when the opposing side refuses to go defensive.
HOWEVER, this article does not mention that there is another phase to the current ridicule style: the THREAT of being called a [racist, homophobe, heartless rich person, etc]. And the reaction nearly everyone has to this threat, which is to move in the direction the threatener intended.
This is now done with “humor.” The court jesters who have mocking down to a science are people like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. The ridicule so cruelly and appear to have such a following that most public figures fear the potential of these men mocking them before they decide what they will do.
I don’t know exactly how to counteract these somewhat more devious ways, but we need to figure it out and instruct every single conservative and Republican, because most of them are as scared to death as boy Alinsky before his mom opened the front window.
“D”s have no moral code. Some “R”s lie and cheat like some politicians but they at least ascribe to a code which makes them accountable. When a member gets caught they boot him out.
When you have no moral code no one can call you a hypocrite. Its a great advantage that the “D”s have. When they get caught all they say is everybody does it or your guys does it and they are off the hook. Its a license to be a scumbag.
Prime example Ted Kennedy. Social degenerate and arguably a murderer yet the “D”s hail him as a hero.
I agree.
One of the points that the author is missing is that ridicule is also powerful in the way that it employs fence sitters. No one likes to be ridiculed or bullies, so they join the bullies.
I believe most people out there get their news from Jon Stewert and other comedians. This is because, for most people, politics isn’t about reason, it’s about being a part of something, being a part of a group. Which group would you rather hang out with? The cool kids, or the geeks?
Unfortunately, pop-culture has reinforced the idea that the cool kids are the liberals and the geeks are the conservatives. And guess what? It’s the cool kids that ridicule the geeks.
Michael Steele said something ridiculous to the effect of the Republicans needing to be the hip-hop party. There’s actually a grain of truth to that. Conservatives have lost the image battle. Brain-dead young people may not be able to tell time off an analog clock, but they understand what’s cool and popular. Sorry folks, but it ain’t being a conservative.
While correct in saying that conservatism needs to be “cool,” what he’s incorrect about is being cool by trying to act like it. A geek is never going to be cool simply by dressing in low hanging pants and wearing lots of bling. He’s still a geek and all the cook kids will make fun of him even more. Instead, conservatism must change the culture. We must fight the culture wars ourselves.
How?
Number one: we must use ridicule ourselves. There is so much illogic to the liberal position, there are so many caricatures of liberal code pinks, gay activists, stupid tree-hugging hippies that this shouldn’t be hard at all.
2. Employ shame. Shame is something that liberals have effectively trumped with political correctness. We need to bring back shame. When a union worker gets $30/hr and a full pension with a high school diploma because of their union connections while the salaried engineer is unemployed, that’s shameful. When we pay our taxes, pay our debts while free-loaders do not, that’s shameful.
3. Tell our story. A big reason why the left has won the cultural war is because they get to tell their story repeated, while the right is content in the smugness of being right. How many episodes in Law and Order where the rich corporate exec is the bad guy? I love Law and Order and can tell you, if there’s a rich corporate exec, he’s dirty! Conservatives need to lose their smugness and go out there and tell the story from the conservative viewpoint.
4. Show that there’s cool in conservatism and be proud of it. I think America can use some “redneck chique.”
Anyway those are some of my random thoughts on a night I can’t sleep.
Saving for later
for later reading
It would be a whole lot easier if we could just shoot them and be done with it ... but OK, I’ll try the calm, mature, rational approach.
I think this article really misses the mark, and it doesn’t understand the problem.
The power of ridicule, Alinsky’s point, was not at all about bullies. It was about labeling, minimizing, and removing an opponent/argument from serious consideration by the general populace.
This is the tactic employed against Sarah Palin, most effectively by the late-nights and SNL. The plan was to remove Palin from serious consideration by making her instead and object of scorn IN THE MINDS of the average American.
So, you can’t just act dignified and drive on. You have been branded, and you’ve been branded a comic sideshow....something to be laughed at. Your serious discussion cannot be heard.
That is why Pres. Bush’s decision to remain quiet was so tragically wrong.
That brings up the other advantage the left has with using ridicule.
The verbal barbs fit nicely into a 15-second sound bite geared toward what seems to be the average person's attention span.
Responding with reason takes more time.
But they have 90% of talk radio.
And the left is doing what they can to hijack it. All the best to Rush, Sean et.al., but they do a lot of preaching to the choir.
You are absolutely correct. I disagree to some extent with this article in that you can't let lies stand unchallenged. A lie unchallenged is sometimes taken as truth. We have seen this time and time again when the left has hurled false accusations against Republicans.
I do agree with the author that an angry emotional response, or engaging in debate is not the answer. I believe the best response to these tactics is something along the lines of Reagan's famous “There you go again..”.
Ultimately, what you said is absolutely the key. The ability to appear kind and respectful while at the same time questioning the left’s knowledge and intellect is probably the most effective way to deal with them. They have successfully characterized themselves as the ‘smart party’ and the ‘progressive’ party. We let them do that, and it's time to turn the tables. Why is it ‘smart’ and ‘progressive’ to cling to failed old social policies like socialism?
One last comment is that I think it also helps to point out publicly the tactics the other side is using. This puts everything they say under a microscope. I would favor actually political advertising that educates the public on exactly what Alinsky’s tactics are, and that gives examples of the left using them. Once you know someones best ‘move to the basket’ it is much easier to recognize and stop.
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