Something I've noticed
Sep. 8th, 2005 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pocket1_pitaSomething I’ve noticed – it’s not a new something, but it’s starting to be repetitive.
Roveian Reduction.
One selects the most extreme statement in a series of opinions held by a group and attributes it to the entire group, thus discrediting the entire group. Again and again and again we fall for it. Some other benefits of Roveian Reduction are that it acts against the building of alliances between moderates and liberals, it reinforces the conservative frame, and controls both the rhetoric and the conversation. See? Because Michael Moore is gleeful, all critiques are gleeful. It also identifies the strongest opinions and disparages them. Another version of this is to change one or two words in an opinion and attribute it to the same source. If I say to you that I think that Bush holds the ultimate responsibility for the failure of FEMA during Hurricane Katrina due to his irresponsible appointment of Brown, lack of urgent response, demotion of FEMA’s status and depletion of relevant funding, the Roveian Reduction would be - Pocket says that Bush holds full responsibility for Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina rips away the veneer of competence: The policies supported by Republicans are cruel and dangerous for the entire country. Witness the bankruptcy bill. What are those poor Katrina victims supposed to do about their bills?! We should be able to declare bankruptcy in the case of a natural disaster. Neo-conservatism and trickle-down economics have been debunked as far as I can see, and still like a bunch of lemmings we dive off the cliff never-ever willing to really address the divide between reality and spin. But the Democrats fielded a mediocre candidate and the Republicans played the gay card and here we are. Every year we get poorer and all the things we really need cost more money. All of our civic institutions fail us one by one – business, government, schools, emergency management. The Katrina Disaster is the bastard child of the misplaced priorities of the Bush Administration.
Roveian Reduction.
One selects the most extreme statement in a series of opinions held by a group and attributes it to the entire group, thus discrediting the entire group. Again and again and again we fall for it. Some other benefits of Roveian Reduction are that it acts against the building of alliances between moderates and liberals, it reinforces the conservative frame, and controls both the rhetoric and the conversation. See? Because Michael Moore is gleeful, all critiques are gleeful. It also identifies the strongest opinions and disparages them. Another version of this is to change one or two words in an opinion and attribute it to the same source. If I say to you that I think that Bush holds the ultimate responsibility for the failure of FEMA during Hurricane Katrina due to his irresponsible appointment of Brown, lack of urgent response, demotion of FEMA’s status and depletion of relevant funding, the Roveian Reduction would be - Pocket says that Bush holds full responsibility for Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina rips away the veneer of competence: The policies supported by Republicans are cruel and dangerous for the entire country. Witness the bankruptcy bill. What are those poor Katrina victims supposed to do about their bills?! We should be able to declare bankruptcy in the case of a natural disaster. Neo-conservatism and trickle-down economics have been debunked as far as I can see, and still like a bunch of lemmings we dive off the cliff never-ever willing to really address the divide between reality and spin. But the Democrats fielded a mediocre candidate and the Republicans played the gay card and here we are. Every year we get poorer and all the things we really need cost more money. All of our civic institutions fail us one by one – business, government, schools, emergency management. The Katrina Disaster is the bastard child of the misplaced priorities of the Bush Administration.
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Date: 2005-09-10 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 04:06 pm (UTC)