Reply #22: Alright. [View All]

[JohnnyCougar]

The point was that swing voters don't pay attention to what people say when their reality can be explained by simple facts. I called you a fundy because that's how swing voters' minds think. Most people strive for parsimonious explanations of what is happening. They are easier to believe because it hurts their brains to think. If you give them a complex explanation that doesn't fit their mold of reality, it is easier for them to call you a name and say you are wrong than consider your new facts. MENTAL LAZINESS.

Propaganda doesn't necessarily mean lying to people, it just means shaping the truth in a way that makes them want to believe it.

Take, for example, "Iraq has WMD's." It is simple, and people wanted to believe it, because after 9/11, they were looking for an enemy. Any enemy would do. When people think they are under attack, they want to attack back, no matter who attacked them.

Poverty is our wedge issue. "Republicans cause poverty" is not only true, but it is easy to believe. Republicans have the stereotype of being for the rich all the time. It is simple.

"Poverty causes abortions" is easy to believe, too. You can easily imagine a poor girl with no money having to get an abortion because she has no job or healthcare. Simple, concise, and with enough of an element of truth to make it worth repeating.

The conclusion is simple. "Republicans cause abortion." Rural and swing voters are highly skeptical of politics and Washington. Tell them that the Republicans will never get rid of abortion, because the need it as a wedge issue to survive. Paint them as Washington insiders that can't be trusted.

The Republicans have been doing this for years to the Democrats. I suggest we do the same. This is politics, not high school debate club. It's fuck or walk. And I don't like walking.