In her book "Quiet," Susan Cain talks about the overwhelming influence of the "New GroupThink." That's what we've got going here, and if we don't stop it now and move on it's going to grow like a snowball heading downhill.
The debate that I saw, and that many saw, is no longer the debate that we're talking about.
And because of how the New GroupThink works, this narrative is now influencing polls.
We're not only letting Republicans control the narrative here, we're helping them. We're feeding them. And we are missing opportunities in doing so.
Follow me below for an explanation.
Susan Cain cites studies conducted by Solomon Asch during the 1950s.
Asch gave student volunteers a vision test. It was so simple that 95% of them got all answers correct when taking the test as individuals.
But when Asch planted actors in the groups, and the actors confidently volunteered the same incorrect answer, the number of students who gave all correct answers plunged to 25 percent....a staggering 75 percent of the participants went along with the group's wrong answer to at least one question. The Asch experiments demonstrated the power of conformity....
Susan Cain, "Quiet," p. 90.
In this debate, in my opinion, both candidates performed poorly. Mitt was what one may call aggressive, but in a Mitt way. He was like an annoying overeager dog jumping on a guest. And he lied. Obama's performance was meh, but no major gaffes. Just nervous and distracted.
Then the alpha male "liberal" brigade at MSNBC took over and everyone jumped on board. Chris Matthews, whose views swing with the wind, went ballistic. Ed Schulz, a former conservative talk radio guy, went ballistic. In other words, two males who worship the alpha and wanted to see a punch thrown went ballistic.
All these white guys are wondering why Obama, a minority who has learned how to make it in a majority world, didn't throw a punch. Well, Obama never throws a punch. That's not his style. Somewhere inside he's still the little kid in Indonesia who learned to dodge the stones and rocks thrown at him as he walked to school, rather than provoking a fight. He learned his lessons well, and it's served him well.
Just allow me a what if and a dare I say here. What if we liberals weren't caught off guard? What if we didn't allow ourselves to be captured by alpha male NewGroupThink? What if we were the ones who went on offence?
What if the narrative pushed by liberals, coming out of the box, was about how Mitt can't go an hour without wanting to fire someone?
What if the narrative pushed by liberals, coming out of the box, was about how Mitt wants to take Medicare away from everyone 60 and under?
What if we stuck to that one, were all on board, and hammered it home, night after night, day after day.
Well we didn't.
But now it's time to move on.
By continuing to succumb to the alpha male NewGroupThink, we're missing a chance to create our own version of the NewGroupThink. We're letting that snowball grow.
Not only are we stepping on our own morale. We're missing a chance to keep on offense.
Paul Ryan walking out of an interview because he didn't like a question? Have you seen that tape?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/....
That should have been worth at least a day if we weren't distracted.
Mitt's latest flip flop on abortion? Again a missed opportunity.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/....
And let's not forget Medicare. Medicare for god's sake. The only thing we have in this country resembling single payer. People love it. And Mitt wants to throw it away. He said it. In that debate.
And to this person creeping up into her 60s, that's more important than any alpha male's need for their surrogate to throw a punch at the other guy.