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Oct
08
Do You Promote Your Candidate Through Signage?
I was driving through a neighborhood on my way to the University of Kentucky Wildcat football game (beat Arkansas 21-20, w00t!). I noticed that through this subdivision that nearly everyone on the street had a political sign in their yard. It was uncanny, there had to have been atleast 60 houses, and about 80% had political signage in their yard. I won’t give you poll numbers, but I was really hoping that all of the McCain signs would be on the left side of the street, with Obama on the other. So I could tell them all that they had it wrong.
I’m not going to harp on politics from a personal standpoint (although I think neither candidate should be president), but I want to talk about political affiliation. And just how far do people go in terms of representing their political beliefs through signage. Some keep it conservative enough, and just put a single sign up, to show their support for a candidate. Others will slap a bumper sticker on their car, and leave it up for too long of a time. I saw a Dukakis sticker the other day on the road; it’s a true story.
One of my favorite recent stories was the man who put dog feces in the back of a man’s truck, because he had an oversized political sign in the bed. Read the story here, I really don’t want to harp on the details.
Are people really that personal with their politics that they resort to those tactics? Like the people who notice their neighbor has a sign of their opponent, so they show “more” support by putting two signs up.
I’m not trying to say that supporting a candidate is wrong. Political debate is one of the great freedoms in this country, and why we’re so diverse. But do we really need to ‘out-sign’ each other, and dump excrement in each others’ trucks? It’s in this writer’s humble opinion that one of the things hurting our society the most is that people have too many beliefs, and not enough ideas. People become so blinded with what they think is right, that they refuse to see anything from another perspective. When I see the doubled up political signs, and multi bumper stickers, that’s what runs through my head.
So, are you someone who supports your candidate through signage? Will you double up on your signs if you see a neighbor supporting your candidate’s opponent? Was the dog feces thing a good idea? Either way, I’d like to hear back from you.
No, I’m not a sign person, and I agree that neither of the two major candidates is a good choice. You ask if people really personalize politics to the point of literal poo flinging. Yes. Yes they do.
I make fun of pretty much all politicians and their supporters on my site, with an obvious bias towards ridiculing the Left more than the Right. But you should see the comments I get. I’ve been called everything from a despicable, disgusting right wing extremist fascist, to a terrorist hugging, commie, liberal nutjob. To me, that’s hilarious, and I find great amusement in it.
Here’s something people don’t realize. No one makes rational decisions. There’s really no such thing. Decisions are almost always made out of irrational emotion. People just like to delude themselves into thinking that their conclusions are the result of logical, rational thought, and therefore, everyone drawing an opposing conclusion is obviously stupid, or can’t or won’t think for themselves. They’re victims of the media. Whatever.
The fact is, decisions are made by emotion. People disregard anything that doesn’t fit in with their view of the world, and repeatedly validate their view with data that does fit. That goes for everything. Not just politics. Or as you said, “People become so blinded with what they think is right, that they refuse to see anything from another perspective.”
Those of us posting blogs and comments on the internet are the bold few. We are the ones that are unlikely to ever change our positions on things, because we are outspoken and confident enough in those positions to state them publicly.
As for the rest, ridicule is an effective tool of persuasion. That’s why I do political humor. It’s more persuasive than outlining policy positions.” I’m often criticized for disregarding the facts, but the facts are boring and unpersuasive.”
I remember seeing something about “how to debate effectively,” and it outlined how to avoid various logical fallacies, and how to have well documented facts. I commented that it should have been called, “how to lose every single debate you engage in.”
Logical fallacies exist because they work. Because people don’t make decisions based on facts. If you want to persuade people not to vote for a candidate, ridicule that candidate, and people will think, “I don’t want to be ridiculed like that,” and their support is lost. They want to fit in and do not want to be mocked. Forget policy positions. Just tweak people’s emotions.
Sometimes it feels really weird to be so self aware that I realize I’m not a rational being, but I still wouldn’t smear excrement on someone else’s property over which candidate is ever so slightly less awful.
wow, thanks for the comment. I pretty much agree with all that you said. It’s so funny to make fun of a candidate around people that support them. The way some people defend them, you’d think they were family.
I do agree that people make decisions based on irrational feelings. Which leads most to vote based on what a candidate “says”, and not what they do. In terms of actual voting record, and campaign funding, etc…
I think that blogs and news sites are the bastion of unbiased, or bias with a choice. Meaning there are so many places to obtain information, that you can easily come across a place that really wants to inform the people. Not obtain ratings, or truly smear political affiliation.
Humor sites like yours are needed as well. I think people need to be reminded that these politicians are human. Just like all humans they’re looking out for themselves, even if it means gaining political power. Which should lead to all of them being made fun of.
Hope to check out your site soon.
Excellent read
“I’m not trying to say that supporting a candidate is wrong. Political debate is one of the great freedoms in this country, and why we’re so diverse”
I totally agree with u
It’s very important that people can express their opinions ot to show their support to a condidate but in a good way.
keep up the good work
I will be a regular reader of ur blog