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Hyperbole, Decibels, and Persistency
[hat tip to @oldbathos for inspiring this post]
Everything I recommend here will be abhorrent to traditional Republicans. It stinks of nastiness, exaggerations, and mischief. But we already know that our usual methods for accomplishing anything are a waste of time and unappreciated. Going along to get along is off the table.
I’m seeing signs of people in Congress and outside of government who know what I’m talking about. They are on the brink of taking effective action, and I don’t know how bad things will need to get for them to step up and set an example. But I believe the time has arrived.
What am I recommending? We need to use hyperbole, decibels, and persistency to break through the media silence and the public’s ignorance.
First, we need to be selective about the issues we choose. We have to pick those that matter the most to the larger public, such as the border, inflation, maybe Afghanistan, and what will be the most devastating aspects of climate change legislation. We have to predict potential outcomes in the worst possible ways, whether we know for certain that they will play out.
Let me use the border as an example. We need to explain how further invasion will “devastate” our economy: crime will go up even further, maybe rise 50% across the country; drug deaths from fentanyl coming across the border could increase to 500,000 in the urban areas; COVID-19, now on the decline, will begin to rise substantially, where we will surpass the death numbers by another 250,000; urban decay will increase in 40% of our cities; riots will begin to surge again, this time between gang member immigrants and Antifa. And the list goes on.
Pretty crazy, huh? But we don’t know that those things will not happen if conditions deteriorate enough.
Second, we need to pick people who appear sane and rational. Senator Tom Cotton comes to mind. He will need to find that balance of urgency and calmness, rather than snarkiness and sarcasm. He needs to find the “volume” to speak out firmly and relentlessly and persistently. He needs to find other credible Republicans who will make it impossible for the MSM to ignore him. We can no longer be polite. This must be a Campaign for Truth; I’m not suggesting that anyone lie. But when you’re projecting into the future, who knows whether hyperbole won’t become reality?
Would you have believed that we’d find ourselves in today’s situations?
Published in Domestic Policy
It saddens me that you folks can’t imagine there may be someone with a bit more tact to meet the rest of your criteria. Oh well.
Then maybe the tactic we need to use is to vote them all out, at least the wimps?
Deindoctrination could be as simple as a million billboards (and perhaps social media) with scenes of Venezuelans eating rats and filthy hospitals. And on each sign just two words: “Venezuela” and “Socialism”.
His “tone” issue was a creation of the government and the Press bombarding the idea into people’s heads. It wasn’t his tone per se. The answer is a media blitz contrasting a utopian future (two cars in every driveway, smiling patients in neat hospital beds) with pictures of the depredations of Socialism (rusting cars up on blocks, and filthy hospital rooms). Pictures, not words.
Somewhere in there is a billboard of dead lined up beside mass graves, and the name of a dictator, and the word Socialism.
Only you can fit hyperbole into 5 words or less.
I completely disagaree. I heard him with my own ears. He wasn’t tough enough to push back firmly without nastiness; that takes a certain amount of finesse which he lacks. And everytime he was nasty, he scored one for them.
But only in a tactful way that won’t ruffle feathers?
No, not at all. Firstly we have to come up with an uncensored means of communication, like the V graffiti in the movie V — or perhaps billboards — or perhaps real graffiti.
Second we need to set the agenda of the relearning curve, not fight the progressives’ agenda.
Thirdly, we need to communicate something that can be fully understood at a glance, sort of like the PARENTS SHOULDN’T BE INVOLVED IN SCHOOLS signs with the smaller McAuliffe underneath — instantly understandable. Pictures do this far better than words.
And fourthly SMEAR SOCIALISM. And rightly so. There are hundreds of pictures of mounds of skulls, lines of corpses, filthy hospital rooms, dumpster divers, empty food shelves, and weighing out Bolivars to pay for groceries, lines of thousands of people at the border with their backs to the camera leaving the Venezuela. Things like that.
A dozen rock throwers like Scott, Nunes, I don’t know, Larry Elder, Winsome Sears, Alveda King, John McWhorter(?).
It was just my first thought. It’s not that I “can’t imagine” anything. But I’m serious in my previous post that it’s not impossible.
You’re putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say that. I guarantee that people will whine and complain and wring their hands, make accusations and threats. Is it so hard to imagine that someone has those skills??!! (Don’t tell @arahant that I used two question and exclamation marks for emphasis . .. )
Please don’t be saddened. Be invigorated! We can imagine a great many people. But you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want. BGS alluded to recent events, which are not a matter of imagination, but of fact, and I thought that his assessment was correct.
Imagining people won’t win elections. In fact we won an election, and… we already covered the rest of that. Please don’t take this as patronizing (well not too patronizing anyway), but I think you’re on a political journey to somewhere closer to where I am, and I’m glad to hear it. We have cookies!
Sorry, Flicker–I missed this comment. Actually, I love it!! It’s aggressive, passionate and clear. I’m all for it. And I love the people you suggest (although I’ve only heard of John McWhorter). Well done!!
Wahoo! That’s what I would love to see–the place where we meet and agree on most things. Except–what kind of cookies?
Thanks.
The core problem.
Samoas.
Well, maybe. . .
Susan, do you think that this is going to be effective?
Using “hyperbole” and “decibels” seems, to me, to mean that we should exaggerate problems in a loud way, something like shouting, though I assume that you mean this metaphorically, for the most part. I’m not sure that yelling at people, while overstating the extent of a problem, is going to work to reach people who are undecided.
Doing so “persistently” seems, to me, likely to turn people off, rather than to persuade them.
It is a difficult situation.
I’ve been following much of this formula, right here at Ricochet, for a number of years. I’ve had some events occur recently that are causing me to reassess my priorities and my activities here. I’m not sure whether this is going to be more effective or not.
I don’t think that I’ve persuaded many people here with a more aggressive approach, though. As an example about which I know that we disagree, my position regarding Israel has altered quite a bit over the past year or so, and I was pretty assertive on some points — using hyperbole and decibels, and doing so persistently. I don’t have the impression that anyone found it persuasive. To the contrary, my impression is that it alienated people.
I do vaguely remember Ronald Reagan’s line, something like “there you go again,” being quite effective. Maybe it was in a debate with Mondale. It was a long time ago.
I do wish that I had a good solution.
Yes. We just don’t want them directing the future of the country.
I was just thinking about race relations and thought of a billboard. Rectangular, two squares. In the left one, a black and a white person are leaning really angrily toward one another, hands on hips, with the letters CRT boldly across them. On the right, the same two clasping hands and smiling broadly, with the words NO CRT, or NO TO CRT, or without CRT. Something like that.
Then I thought, these are memes, pictures, virtually cartoons, with a few pithy words. Maybe memes would make great billboards or graffiti. Or using some other medium. I think people don’t read anymore, and they don’t think. They look, and they feel. If it were up to me, I’d put most of my emphasis in this.
I think the Republicans need you!
We’d have to do polling and focus groups and moderate the message (pardon the sarcasm).
I have a good memory except for names, date, places, faces, and things. Other than that, I have a great memory. Who are the well-connected Republicans and media people on Ricochet? I can think of @garymcvey and @soupguy. If this is a good idea, maybe they could help. But it would take a lot money. For the next three years. Who might be interested in vetting this, and promoting it? I don’t think the RNC would be interested.
See Kayleigh McEnany on effective communication in a hostile media environment. “Fight fire with water.” Present your side forcefully without screaming while your opponent is red faced and screaming.
I suggest starting at the Atlantic, perhaps with “The Surgeon General Meets the Language Police.”
It isn’t nice.
Amen!
Reagan once said, “When somebody lies about you, tell the truth about them.” And the truth isn’t nice. Let’s roll!!
The problem is how do we get the message out?
I would have Winsome Sears in prime time TV advertisements. And advertise heavily on the Super Bowl and other highly watched programs.
And emphasize, as Sears has done, that this is a struggle for the soul of America.
The network with the rights to the Super Bowl might decline to broadcast the commercial. If so, the blowback would be fun to watch.
Starve them for content. No Republican shall appear on, be interviewed by, or contribute an article to a corporate media outlet. This includes the WSJ and Fox. So-called ‘Republicans’ who flout this rule should be disowned.
Starve them for personnel. No conservative shall become, or shall permit a loved one or friend to become, a ‘journalist’. Conservative institutions that harbour ‘journalism schools’ should cease. To be a ‘journalist’ should become a mark of shame.
Starve them for funds. Republican-led governments should ensure that the laws on the books requiring public notice of something to be given should not require resort to corporate media outlets e.g. having to give public notice of a zoning change request should NOT require publication in a newspaper. Similarly, government-funded ads (notices, job openings, propaganda) should not be placed in corporate media.
Starve them for customers. Republicans and conservatives should aggressively promote alternative media: podcasts, blogs, whatever can be controlled by the creator rather than corporate media. Republicans should appear on podcasts (etc.) whenever possible – particularly when they are NOT political. If a Republican is a dog-lover, appear on whatever dog podcasts will accept them – and don’t say anything political. The listener takeaway will be ‘that person is a nice dog-lover’. When the Republican later uses decibels, hyperbole and repetition for a political message, our hypothetical listener will be thinking “that nice dog-lover says Democrats want to brainwash my children…” (admittedly this isn’t hyperbole).
Great ideas, Joshua. We need to make ourselves high profile.