Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
I had an absolutely fascinating conversation today with a psychiatrist who specializes in dissociative identity disorders in Turkey. This was really one of the more interesting conversations I've had here. There is, he thinks, an unrecognized epidemic of multiple personality disorder in Turkey. Not metaphorically, literally. How bizarre and suggestive is that?
We had a long conversation about this. He wonders--and so do I--how this might be connected to the political situation here. One of many interesting comments he made was that the culture is mediated through the family. The remark has been on my mind all day; in fact, I haven't been able to stop thinking of examples.
Now I walk in and see nearly 100 comments on this thread. I was struck again by the incredibly strong emotions aroused by Sarah Palin. Something about her triggers a more-than-ordinary reaction among Americans. I don't think this is just about politics. She, like Margaret Thatcher, is some kind of feminine archetype. People are reacting not just to her but to women of whom she reminds them.
I have no idea if this is a fruitful line of inquiry, but I'm curious. Does Sarah Palin remind you of anyone in your family? A formative influence in your childhood, a teacher? If so, how would you characterize your relationship to that woman?
I bet our answers to that question will be interesting.
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Jun '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Palin reminds me of no one from my family. My people all look like gnomes and have the charisma of stacked lumber. My take on Palin is entirely clinical in my assessment. She's a great cheerleader for the right. She brings out the crowds and pumps up our enthusiasm. Now that she's opted for celebrity status, I can't take here seriously as a candidate. She'll have to run for office again, perhaps at the congressional level, and prove her gravitas before I take her seriously.
That doesn't mean I hate her or think she has no place in the conservative movement. She's sill a gem. Palin can raise money and throw her weight behind conservative candidates in tight races to great affect. But I don't want to see her everywhere all the time. She needs to start showing more discretion.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 11:27amNov '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Does Sarah Palin remind you of anyone in your family?
No, but she does remind me of some great women I’ve known. Women who have a strong moral compass, and a strong belief in personal responsibility and doing things for themselves instead of expecting the government to do something for them.
Of course, I only know Margaret Thatcher from books like yours. Sarah Palin may never be as large as Margaret Thatcher but she has some Thatcher qualities, in my view. She has already had a huge impact on American politics. The libs in the state-run media are obsessed with her, mainly because they fear her success.
Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure my mother would have liked Sarah Palin.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 11:32amNov '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Then your argument is more with people like Andrea Mitchell than Sarah Palin. Andrea and her cohorts aren’t about to let you see less of Sarah Palin. They can’t. They’re obsessed with her. One wonders what they’d do without her.
All you can do is unplug the TV. Better yet, use the parental controls to keep you away from the cable news and network channels. Call a stranger to put in a password you don’t know so you’ll be locked out and can’t be tempted.
I did that so I’d see less of Andrea Mitchell.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 11:39amOct '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
I'm one of those that commented on that thread a couple of times (nothing incredibly insightful, no need to check) and my position I think mirrors that of a lot of the comments I've seen on the web. I'm not attracted to her politically because she is attractive or because I think she's a great intellect. I like her for her political courage and I think her policy instincts are sound. I'd rather she didn't run for office, but I like her influence on the national conversation. Oh, and l do enjoy how she get under the left's skin and drives them howling mad.
I also have great respect for Krauthammer and can understand his concern for her lack of intellectual chops. Do you need them to be an effective leader? I think good instincts might be more important.
No, I don't know anyone that she particularly reminds me of.
Jul '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
She reminds me of every woman in my family. I make no bones about liking her partly because of that, I instantly connected to her and found her comfortingly familiar. And now I'm going to be judged horribly for that but...not like that's something new :)
Dec '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Sarah Palin reminds my wife of what she was taught in the 1970s that women had the right to be in America: happy as wives and mothers while at the same time successful in a career.
As for people in my family, my father might have come closest: like her, he was never afraid to speak his mind, stand up for himself and his friends, and advocate for his beliefs.
Jun '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
TeeJaw
Then your argument is more with people like Andrea Mitchell than Sarah Palin. Andrea and her cohorts aren’t about to let you see less of Sarah Palin. They can’t. They’re obsessed with her. One wonders what they’d do without her.
All you can do is unplug the TV. Better yet, use the parental controls to keep you away from the cable news and network channels. Call a stranger to put in a password you don’t know so you’ll be locked out and can’t be tempted.
I did that so I’d see less of Andrea Mitchell. · Jan 13 at 11:28am
Edited on Jan 13 at 11:39 am
I don't own a television, but that doesn't mean I don't hear or read about Palin all the time.
Nov '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
I’m not worried a whit about Palin’s intellectual ability. If she were to come out of the primary process as a winner I’d vote for her in a heartbeat. A president that respected my liberty would be a godsend, and you don’t have to be a genius for that. I like her for what she lacks, and she lacks a desire to micromanage other people’s lives.
Jun '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
This is why all the world has a crush on Claire.
That is it exactly. She is The Complete Woman. Most of the left and a few of our own think of her as That Woman, which is in itself the beginnings of an archetype, I guess.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 12:33pmNov '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
You are one lucky guy.
Aug '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Uhh... Palin looks a lot like my hippie Girl-Scout leader -- the one who tried to teach me to shoot pool (physics-wise, I should've been pretty good at pool, but there was still a part of me that still felt pool was somehow immoral, so I never really got into it).
So yes, Palin is a snappier-dressed physical doppelgänger of a formative influence in my life. As for what that could possibly mean...
I think my old Scout leader's pet milk snake was a bigger influence on my life than her Palin-like appearance.
Jul '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Nope!
May '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Some people just can't get past her looks and that reaction varies between the sexes.
Some men can't follow a woman politically if they spend all their time behind her looking at what's behind her. Say what you will about Margaret Thatcher, the shaggability question was never raised. You dealt with Mrs. Thatcher purely on an intellectual level.
Women distrust her because they wouldn't trust the country to anyone they wouldn't trust alone with their husbands. And liberal women assume that because she doesn't agree with them all of her accomplishments must have come from her looks.
The MSM hatred is based on that first speech at the convention. They saw someone on the right who had charisma, saw the reaction she got and decided right then and there she had to be destroyed.
Dec '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
My thesis advisor/boss likes to attack Palin fairly often with "who is this woman? does she look like your mother!?" Well, actually, my mother looks alot like Sarah Palin. And both my mother and father have similar personalities and worldview as her. I didn't realize it until this thread, but I think what my boss was getting at was "she doesn't represent the average person." Which is strange, but I always assumed that's precisely what she represented and it was so clear. The true length of the unbridgeable gap betwen the left and the right is being revealed this week. It's much more of a Grand Canyon than I previously thought.
Dec '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
She reminds me a great deal of my own mother. Not so much looks, but her personality and no-BS way of doing things.
I freely admit that this is partially responsible for the way I relentlessly defend her as a person. If people had said the things they say about Palin to my face, about my mother, I'd have been in the clink way back in 2008. Sometimes my ability to verbally rebut odious sentiments is reduced by the red tunnel vision, and I default back to cave man tactics (IE Hulk Smash).
It doesn't happen often, but attack my family like that, and you'd get to see it first hand.
That all said, I think there are two or three candidates on the right at this moment that I'd rather have run instead of Palin.
She could do the job if it came to that, certainly as good or better than Obama has, but I think there are better options available right now.
Plus, I think she's actually more dangerous/powerful floating around out there in the ether, striking when she sees an opening, and totally unrestrained by the "decorum of the office".
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 12:02pmJun '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
She reminds me of no one in my family or any other women I've encountered in my long work history. She does not excite me. She does not energize me or make me emotional.
I'm in Paules' camp on this. She's been helpful to the conservative movement at the grassroots level and the Republican Party but I think she's also a very polarizing figure that would have extreme difficulty getting Democrats and Independents to vote for her...unlike previous Republicans who were able to do so.
Because she is a prominent woman in politics it's inevitable that she would be compared to Margaret Thatcher...but I think that's awfully complimentary to Palin and not very to Margaret Thatcher.
Sep '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
On an older 100 plus comment Palin thread, I was quite engaged and was eventually accused by two commenters of being somehow fixated on Palin out of some vague and bastardized Freudian diagnosis. Needles to say I was insulted. This was just a desperate tactic on their part. It is disappointing to see conservatives arguing like leftists.
Now, I just read through that entire thread, (complete with all the nested quotes and back and forths) and found several aspects of this debate interesting but quite unwieldy.
Aug '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Sarah is a sportsman, which is a asset usually found in men, but appreciated by most men.
Sarah is an Alaskan, is the last frontier in America, appreciated by all who like that history.
Sarah is a mother who deals with (1) wild kids (2) son in the Army (3) daughter with lovechild and stupid exboyfriend (4) another younger, smart aleck daughter (5) preteen daughter who is quizzical and still willing to try everything in a genderless fashion and (6) a down syndrome baby which her values told her not to abort. So that crosses with how many demographics in todays America ? Guessing (1) wild kids - 66% (2) Army son - 75% from the last 75 years (3) 40%- real question here is how many black Americans secretly appreciate her (4) 50% all 16yr olds are a pain (5) 50% all girls before 16 are cute and(6) what is the prolife % in America, she has them all.
and however many families have downs children, she has them doubly.
Union-member husband - ? Nationally ranked sportsman husband - ?
Small public colleges - ? Middle class - ?
Not so much family, but Americana. Her real numbers are being hidden, she's off the charts.
Jul '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
I reject the assertion that people react one way or another to Palin based upon her physical attractiveness.
Some of the brightest women I've known are beautiful (shout out to my lovely wife). And some of the brightest women I've known were not so favored.
Years ago, I managed an organization in the fashion industry, where the overwhelming majority of my employees were gorgeous females. In that industry, they had a decisive edge.
I was mentoring a young woman who was, by most people's standards, homely. She asked me, "Why are you doing this for me?"
I answered, "Because you're bright and hard-working and you're humble. You're willing to admit a mistake and to ask for help when you don't know something. That's something the show ponies won't learn until the bloom of youth fades."
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 12:15pmJul '10
Re: Looking at Sarah Palin From Another Angle
Welcome to the club, pal.