Substack on slogans.
Slogans are designed for people who prefer not to think. They are a thought cancelling virus meant for the cognitively immunocompromised. Otherwise, how could they possibly be effective? Anyone with half a brain (and this includes many of the Rumson Hash House Harriers) can find distinctions that undermine the propaganda of a constantly repeated slogan.
E.G.
The Master Sophist: The Platidude [sic]
The “yes we can man”, the “hope and changeling”, the “that’s not who we are tzar” The man who almost succeeded in his stated goal of being two weeks away from “fundamentally changing” our once great republic. The man who gave us Obamacare. The mendacious community organizer is a perfect example of how a slick speaking Sophist with a few effective slogans can influence soft minded people. Or those who have eaten the fruit from the race guilt tree. Was that too judgmental?
Advertising agencies use slogans all the time. They encourage us to buy their product. The big difference being that when a company advertises a product, we purchase it with our money, but when politicians advertise with their slogans, they are selling something that they will give to people with other people’s money or in worse cases other people’s lives. When a company makes a bad choice in marketing, (“This Bud’s for you!” and then use Dylan Mulvany as the face of their campaign) their company and their shareholders and investors take the hit. But when they strike a nerve as they did with American Eagle’s “Good Jeans” they get more than their monies worth out of their advertising budget. Who would have thought that a good-looking girl could sell jeans?
Some slogans are relatively harmless. “Love is love”, for example doesn’t hurt anyone, there are indeed many different types of love, some more accepted than others, but real love doesn’t hurt anyone. “Love Wins” is another beauty, as many people who post it don’t really sound all that loving and are using the slogan to pretend that they are more loving than the people who don’t go around parroting stupid yet innocuous platitudes. “No Hate at Home“, is one of my favorites and begs the questions: Where do you like your hate? Do you suppose other homes are hateful because they didn’t put a sign on their front lawn?
Here are a few others:
“Diversity is our strength”. Is it really? Are we including diversity of thought? Is diversity really a strength at all? Isn’t cohesiveness, equal opportunity, equal treatment under the law, protection of the individual under the constitution and fundamental principles of justice, our strength? Do those principles have a skin color or ethnicity?
“No one is above the law”. Of course, this assumes that to be true. Is it not amusing that some who have chanted that refrain for years, now find themselves on the receiving end of the stick, and are now claiming that the law is being weaponized against them? Karma is a female dog.
“A threat to our democracy”. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said that Democracy Is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner. When asked what kind of government the framers had created, he quipped, “A Republic; if you can keep it” Our Republic is actually and hopefully the greatest threat to “our democracy”. Groupthink is the greatest threat to our Republic.
Slogans have been used forever to manipulate the public. I always thought that Americans, having the benefit of living in a mostly free republic, and having hopefully learned the lessons of history, would be able to see through the slogans and propaganda when used against them. I know longer have confidence in that, but hopefully the last few years have taught us a lesson.
The Covid years, a brief reminder: “We’re all in this together”, really, when some businesses were closed up and others were not? “It’s for the greater good” Really? Did you actually believe that? “Two weeks to flatten the curve” the longest two weeks in history. Did anyone other than a handful of us ignore this mandate? “Safe and effective”? Remember how the leftist cabal didn’t trust the Vax because Trump expedited the process, and then turned around and demanded that everyone take it. Remember this?
The Vax scene Still cringe worthy
Then remember when the shot didn’t really work and the puppet in chief declared that it was a “Pandemic of the unvaccinated”? Have we learned anything?
When a slogan is being parroted ad nauseum, the proper response from a thinking person should be to ask questions, starting with is it true? What does it mean? How do we know it? Does it infringe on our constitutional rights? Who benefits? Have we seen this movie before?
MAGA is also a slogan. Make America Great Again isn’t specific, so we need to ask ourselves the same questions. Is it true that we are no longer great? What was great before that isn’t great now? And, if we aren’t doing great right now, why is that and how can we fix it? What does it mean? Trump, not being a very good politician actually told us what he meant and how he planned to fix it. When was the last time a politician did that, and followed through? To some (dishonest peeps) it means we want to have slavery again and as Dementia Joe famously said, (in a fake southern accent of course) “they wanna put y’all back in chains” as if the boogie man specter of imaginary white supremacy has eaten away at their underdeveloped brains. To me it means “stop doing stupid stuff that hurts all of us” (how many examples do I need to supply?) Does it infringe on our Constitutional rights? Actually, it is a call to restore and abide by them! Who benefits? Even those who hate Trump with all of their emotional, tiny little hearts will be better off, even though they will never admit it. Have we seen this movie before? I don’t think so, the first term of the mean orange man was a lesson in the corruption of the deep state. In the first term Trump didn’t really understand how underhanded and dishonest the people in government and political activists actually are. Luckily, he had four years of watching fumbling, corrupt, ineptitude to prepare for his second term. And prepared he was. If you don’t think that Trump has been effective, you may be living in a cave. Take the bruhaha over the Sydney Sweeney ad. Would a company have made this ad before Trump’s bold way of dealing with leftist nut cases? Would they not have given a BS fauxpology [sic] (my word) before Trump? Watch this video and let me know; who is on the run?
Sydney song parody (AI generated) I’m still smiling
Helping to make America Great Again,
Lazlo the Deplorable