It’s time to see the world as they see it...and show them reality in their terms.
First a personal story: Went to my favorite Italian restaurant this evening. Every TV was set to Fox. (They normally have soccer, Sky News, CNN, etc.) Now, I’m not shy. Manager said: “The lady at that table asked to have them all set to Fox.” I respond: “I love your food but will not sit here with every TV on Fox." They change 5 of six to a variety of channels. The GOPer complains. I say: "Trump raped a 13 year old. Look it up! Just google the court documents. He paid her parents off." Shock, silence. She was not in any way expecting any disagreement. These folks think that the whole world agrees with them. Why? We do not try to communicate.
OK, so I had a great dinner. But conversation ensued at my table. Day before yesterday we drove I-75. We saw maybe 50 Trump billboards, at least as many “Heartbeat at 18 days." (Update from a biologist: There are no organs at 18 days, no hearts, only tissues.) Not a single Progressive billboard.
Now you have to tolerate a paragraph summary of an entire body of psychological research. It’s called “cognitive dissonance.” Ultra-conservatives need to know that everyone agrees with them. They will absolutely not look at any media source that doesn’t agree with them. We (Hillary) can write all the 30-page policy statements we want. They will be ignored. They do not see anything that disagrees with them because it is so easy to avoid.
It’s the same with the Internet. Progressives surf around to find varying sources to vet their readings. Conservatives only use social media to verify their prior opinions.
Progressives please: Stop living in some elite world. We need billboards. They are impossible to ignore. We need bumper stickers. At a stop light, they are pretty hard to avoid reading.
And these media messages must NOT insult the folks who have felt inferior since junior high school. They must be simple and encourage them to (for perhaps the first time in their lives) think for themselves. Implying they are stupid doesn’t get us anywhere.
Here’s the plan. Billboards on every interstate, all in exactly the same format:
Did you vote for this?
[The contents change every week:
- Taking away tax credit for first time home buyers
- Creating a cabinet of billionaires
- Allowing Russia to re-establish the European slave states
- Taking away health care from 30 million
- Departing hard-working workers and letting our produce rot
- Keeping researchers and graduate students from our universities
- Allowing Trump to use his office to plug his golf courses and his children’s products
- Allowing Putin to decide our president
- Etc, Etc, Etc]
The messages can end with a single link, but nothing that you can’t read driving by. They should ask the reader to investigate for him/herself.
This cannot start in a year. It will take that long for folks to actually look up and see what the message of the week is! A follow-up of bumper stickers wouldn’t hurt! Same colors, same message.
For Pete’s sake, why are we allowing that media to rule the nation? Are we too proud to realize that we truly screwed up the last campaign?
If I had the money, I’d fund them myself. But together we can do this.