David S. Bernstein at the Boston Phoenix has a note on the dark side of the Wingnut Wurlitzer:
… There’s a common wisdom, in high-profile campaigns, that you need to “feed the beast,” meaning the media, with things to write about — or else they will go out looking for things, which might not be things you want them to write about….
That also applies to the movement-conservative marketplace, if not moreso. They have all day to fill up with radio gab and blog posts and twitter banter and so on. It’s actually not that easy to keep the audience hooked hour after hour. To keep it fresh and have people tuning in and calling and tweeting back, they constantly need things to be outraged about. And the truth is, campaigns tend to be a lot of the same thing over and over most of the time; fresh new outrages don’t always track to the lifespan of the last outrage.
It’s vitally important for, say, the Romney campaign to keep the movement-conservative audience engaged, to keep their interest up so they will turn out to vote in big numbers.
But it’s also important that the movement-conservative marketplace not go veering off into dangerous looney-land. And that’s really, really likely if you’re not feeding that beast. If you’re not giving them something reasonably safe to be outraged about, they’re likely to go looking for outrages in, say, the latest press releases from the Gun Owners’ Action League, or the latest book from Regnery, or worse….
So that’s a big part of the reason why, for example, the Romney campaign (presumably) dropped an old Obama “I believe in distribution” clip on Drudge the other day — not because it’s useful to the overall goals of the campaign, but because they needed to give the movement-conservative marketplace something to focus their outrage on, before they either start losing interest in hating Obama, or start talking really, really, crazy batwankery.
Sorry, Willard: “And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
Joseph Nobles
I think that has a lot of validity. Mitt has a tiger by the ears. Oh, it does suck to be him.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
The viability of media is based on change. What it’s accomplished is irrelevant if something’s not happening NOW. Remember when the crawl at the bottom of the TV screen only appeared when something really urgent was going on and it was rare? Now it never stops. Repeating the same ‘breaking story’ teasers to give the illusion of urgency. A news cycle that used to start off with a Sunday newspaper editorial and evolve slowly from there has turned into a 24 X 7 high volume/low density churn of barely processed information and hollering.
Linda Featheringill
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Yup. Do not miss the TV.
[I do enjoy getting TV ala carte via the internet. Hooray for the 21st century!]
But back on topic. Team Romney hasn’t done a good job of care and feeding of the press.
PeakVT
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
I’ve seen the whole world six times over, Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover…
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Linda Featheringill:
Yeah, I’m that one weirdo who doesn’t watch TV. Stopped around 1978 and never went back. In the last 5 years my wife has convinced me that there are some great shows and we get those on DVD. But I will never again sit down on their schedule for my entertainment, or watch a commercial that I can avoid.
In other news, Bobo is at it again:
I really wish I hadn’t stumbled across this steaming heap this early in the morning because now the part of my brain that hates teh stupid will be inflamed all day.
raven
Terri Garr is wonderful! Have ya’ll seen her dance on the TAMI Show?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lssbUjAMspE
raven
I watch TEVEE all the time!
Maude
@raven:
I don’t, but you tell what’s going on. Good morning. Lovely morning.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Regarding the media thing, Romney’s campaign is incompetently managing the press. Is it because they’re just not very good at it, or do they feel that pandering to the scribblers and blow dried talking heads is beneath them? I’d guess a combo of the two, with contributing proportions varying daily.
MikeJ
@raven: James Brown on the TAMI show, same tape I’ve had for years.
PeakVT started it.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@PeakVT:
Great song. I love The Police. Stewart Copeland’s book Strange Things Happen is an interesting view into a mature band and the challenges of touring and being creative together.
I would argue that the problem isn’t too much information but too much data. There’s a difference. Raw input with no context is data. Information has context and perspective. We’re lacking perspective and context in the avalanche of unprocessed facts that we get buried under around the clock.
Maude
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
The arrogant attitude prevents a person from learning. They know everything and after all, things have always gone their way.
Romney thought things would just happen and he’d be president.
Linda Featheringill
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Bobo’s right. Capitalism runs on social Darwinism and always has. It is a beast. And if you want to have a good life, you’ll have to try to keep that beast under control. Individuals can’t do that but societies can. Sort of.
Bobo probably thinks that capitalism is obviously a Good Thing. Some of us think that the beast should justify its continued presence.
The Righties seem to want to unleash that beast. I think they don’t understand what they’re asking for. The Lefties want to destroy the entire beast but they have nothing [yet] to replace it with. Maybe they don’t understand what they are asking for.
If either the Righties or the Lefties get their way, we’re likely to devolve into a collection of local warlords, where the strongest and meanest rules. Welcome to Somalia.
Maude
@Linda Featheringill:
Exactly right. WE are out of kilter.
The economy got slanted toward the so called job creators, leaving the rest of us with ashes.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Linda Featheringill:
Bobo seems to be proposing a cause/effect relationship between Elon Musk’s outsized personality/boldness and his business success. I don’t think there’s more than a weak correlation there. You don’t have to be an audacious risk taker to succeed. Those are just the successes that get noticed. Not because they succeeded but because they’re audacious in other ways.
ETA: also, too the audacious gamblers who fail are never held up as cautionary tales. They’re forgotten because everyone loves a winner. Not least the weak minded centrist Brooks.
Scott
The manipulation of both the media and it’s own supporters by Team Romney has been fairly obvious. It goes something like this:
1.)Romney says something really dumb and/or damaging.
2.)Pundits go on TV and say WTF. Even Conservatives.
3.)Romney camp shakes off flop sweat, calls Conservative pundits and says WTF are you doing criticizing us?
4.)Conservative pundits go back on TV armed with talking points defending Romney.
5.)Suddenly, some ‘new’ evidence of Obama’s blackness is exposed. Public is told they should be outraged.
6.)Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
You’re Welcome.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
OT: Charles Stross just tied Elon Musk and Mitt into a blog post where he asks the serious question ‘Why do already rich people keep piling up more dough than they can use?’. Stross is smart, and the short post is surprising and thought provoking:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/09/on-the-diminishing-marginal-ut.html
Raven
@MikeJ: I had the boot DVD for years. No beach boys. They finally released the whole shebang
Raven
@MikeJ: mick did NOT want to follow that!
AdamK
Rmoney’s logo looks like a French whore’s leg.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Raven:
My wife ganked that as soon as it came out and made me watch it. It was fantastic. So much great talent in one place, and they seemed to all be on top of their game. Possibly the ‘competition’ was an inspiration. I even enjoyed Gerry and the Pacemakers (sp?).
PeakVT
1979 vs. 2008.
TheMightyTrowel
spent today hunting for an apartment and coping with sociopathic rental agents. first place that looked good turned out to be right next to a pretty rough council estate – agent told me estate was 20 minute drive away, but it was right across the road and i got offered hard drugs as i walked to my car. finally think i found a place after 11 viewings. now hitting the port hard as a reward.
TMT +4
Narcissus
@AdamK: That’s not fair to french whores
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@PeakVT:
The 2008 video is beautifully shot and recorded. Wow!
Maude
@TheMightyTrowel:
But if you were on drugs, the council housing would see far away.
Glad you found something.
Happy spring. You are in OZ, right?
PeakVT
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: It is, but I like the 1979 performance better (except for that annoying whistle).
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@PeakVT:
I had 2 chances to see them on that ’70s tour. Snowed out once and flu the second time. Hated hearing from my friends what great shows I missed. Say what you want about Sting but he has a great voice and knows how to write for it.
Soonergrunt
Can’t sleep. Muscle spasms.
Going to buy a car today. Looks like a used 2011 Ford Fusion with 29k miles on it.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Soonergrunt:
Sorry about the pains. A kinked neck woke me up at 4:45 but the pillz are working.
I think you’ll like the Fusion. My wife designed some of the tooling! I have the greatest respect for Ford’s engineering all through their line. From our limited view into the autos’ production processes Ford looks like the one that’s got their act 100% together.
Soonergrunt
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Well, I’m convinced that had I been in the car that my 2010 Ford Focus replaced, a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, I’d still be in the hospital or maybe even the morgue. I walked away from getting t-boned by an F250 4×4 pick up.
Muscle spasms are a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
The Focus was totaled by the insurance company. I loved that car.
ericblair
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Damn right. For a lot of the successful, it amounts to being successfully born to the right person. These people are concerned with avoiding all possible financial risk, and have lately stuffing inordinate amounts of money into treasury bills and leaning on central bankers to keep inflation as close to zero as possible, neither thing helping with the whole job createrin’ deal.
The successful businesspeople tend to get that way by figuring out how to avoid risk by clever use of existing assets. Using your railroad rights-of-way to string optical fiber; use your IBM contacts to get your operating system installed on every PC they make. “We’re going out on a limb here, and if we fail we’re fucked” doesn’t go over very well in the boardroom, and usually means desperation not success.
What these people are talking about are the traders and ibanks, who also actually load as much downside risk onto everyone else as possible (see 2008). They’re happy to pocket the upside and call themselves muy macho. Great role models.
bemused
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Power is another motivator that makes these guys tick.
There is also a higher percentage of sociopathy in the “captains of industry” group than in the general population, heard on NPR a couple of months ago.
One of the supporters at Mitt’s now infamous fundraiser was outraged at the lack of appreciation for people like him who kill themselves and hardly see their families to make more and more millions. That’s sick.
TheMightyTrowel
@Maude: yup. spring is glorious. still cool enough at night for port +5 now. B-)
the Conster
FB comment about Lady Ann’s smoke filled plane: Now they just need the mirrors.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@bemused:
I have no beef with the wealthy. But when one guy’s lust for millions means thousands of workers slide from middle class to insecurity or poverty it becomes obscene.
The right treats the wealthy as ‘creators’ who make money out of thin air. But for many on their way up to the plutocrat class it’s easier to treat accumulating assets as a zero sum game with teh lower classes as the losers.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Soonergrunt:
They do amazing things with high-strength lightweight steels these days. I was in a plant in Nashville last week where they were welding together three different-gauge sections of sheet into a blank for a body-side stamping. This puts the rigidity where they need it around the passenger compartment and lets the rest of the car crumple to absorb impact. vehicle safety has had huge improvements and newer is almost always safer than older/heavier.
jeffreyw
Mmm… breakfast
bemused
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Agree. At the same time, they want to be exalted for climbing over the bodies on their way to the top.
Woody
The need for campaigns to spoonfeed Media or suffer the consequences is one of the unfortunate developments in the modern era.
I’ve always felt that the GOP has enjoyed an advantage in this area because once a trope takes hold, the Fox/talkradio nexus repeats and recycles the trope without end. This pays long-term dividends, as it serves as a reinforcement tool throughout a conservative’s life.
Cons who bought in during the 50s: The Commies and pinkos
Cons who bought in during the 60s: The Hippies
70s: The Liberal Media who invented Watergate and elevated Carter
you get the picture.
Non-27%ers chuckle when a Republican snarls about the Communists among us, but there are a lot of elderly that nod their heads in recognition and appreciation. I work with a con that believes the Washington Post is a liberal rag – but then, he was in his late teens/early 20s during Watergate.
Coca-cola still advertises itself even though it’s the best known brand on Earth for a reason – to reinfoce itself throughout the generational cohorts. The GOP does this as well.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@raven: What the heck was that!!??
Chuck Berry
Leslie Gore
Beach Boys
Temptations (?)
Supremes (?)
Rolling Stones
Who did I miss?
Was Terri (love love love her movies) the one in the striped shirt?
debit
@jeffreyw: YUM!! I have to tell you that sausage gravy and biscuits has now become a Sunday tradition in my house. Sometimes we have it for dinner instead of breakfast. It’s just that good.
cmorenc
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
Actually, this is a valid, important point…so far as it goes. The problem isn’t that the dynamism and growth injected into our economy isn’t a critically important factor worth protecting, but rather with the GOP’s aggressive assertion that it is by far the paramount key factor vastly more important than anything else, such as a healthy, secure middle class, or a strong social contract that regards things like helping young people with education as the seed corn for both future entrepreneurs and a large portion of the middle class who will staff their enterprises as well.
jeffreyw
@debit: We have it on occasion. Thinking on a breakfast burrito this morning, avocado, roast pork, eggs, and whatever else comes to mind.
dance around in your bones
Gene Wilder was so great. So was Young Frankenstein – I’m sorry, I meant Fronkensteen.
dance around in your bones
@raven:
I had go-go boots, AND I danced The Jerk. Good times.
different-church-lady
Jeez, talk about overthinking things. They dropped the “redistribution” meme because they thought it was a good tit-for-tat.
The thing that’s killing Romney’s campaign is they really believe all this weak tea is actually 75mm shells.
ruemara
I know some will be annoyed at me for saying this, but the same outrage machine exists on the left, just with less power, fewer players and a soupçon more facts.