July 28, 2011 5:18 AM

Today on "Pet Peeve Watch"....

Never give up.
When giving up, be sure to grovel.
Be yourself. Your brand is you.
Remember: your brand is whatever people want you to be. You are a cheap whore.
Be honest.
When lying, be sure to use direct eye contact.

  • How to be a social media expert, Slacktory

Am I the only one who feels the need to stifle a gag reflex when you hear a politician using the phrase, “The American People are….” or, “The American People want….”? As if the will of 300 million Americans is some monolithic entity that can be reduced to an easily-digestible sound bite, right? I’ll own up to my particular prejudice, in that it REALLY pisses me off when I hear Republicans doing it, because they really are the worst offenders. Nonetheless, I’d be something less than honest were I not to admit to wanting to pull my hair out when I hear Democrats doing it. It’s offensive, it’s inaccurate, and I feel as if my intelligence is being insulted whenever I hear a politician head down that path. It makes me crazy, and I find myself fighting the urge to take a nine-iron to my television.

As a politician, the American Sheeple want…whatever talking/propaganda point you happen to be pushing at the moment. Period. Unless you’ve somehow managed to conduct some extensive polling, one can no more claim knowledge of what 300 million Americans want than one can cure cancer through the awesome power of the free market.

How DOES one divine the feelings and opinions of 300 million Americans? And, having done that, how does one then boil it down to a simple, easily-digestible talking point? The short answer, of course, is that you simply cannot. What you can do is take a little bit of information, twist it and interpret it in a way that happens to fit your particular agenda, and then run with it AS IF AN ENTIRE NATION has rallied behind your brilliant, insightful leadership. This is really, of course, just a nice way to say that you can demagogue an issue when and if it suits your purpose.

Hey, the American Sheeple are calling BS on this…and they’re demanding that this President step up and do the right thing. Because that’s evidently what extensive polling of 300 million Americans has indisputably proven. Or not.

It does make for great talking points, though….

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 28, 2011 5:18 AM.

Today's signs that the Apocalypse may be upon us was the previous entry in this blog.

When you do it, it's playing the victim card. When we do it, it's protecting our interests. is the next entry in this blog.

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