No, not the car companies.
This year, in the year of our political overlord 2012, more has been done to influence individuals through what I have referred to throughout the years as “The Big 3”.
The big 3 is the a derivative of the biggest topics that people have the strictest point of view towards. They are Politics, Religion and Sexuality (or Sexual Orientation).
As you watch the news, follow things on Facebook, pretty much anything that you view as a public source, you are barraged with the big 3 constantly. Which is somewhat ironic. These are the aspects of poeple’s opinions that are least likely changed, yet are currently being pushed to change a person’s opinion.
As a rule, we must observe the 80/20 rule. That being that 80% of people fall into this category and 20% are possibly willing to change their opinion. So all this rhetoric is going after, at best, 20% of the people. Besides this, it is validating 40% and pissing off the other 40%. (Generally Speaking).
So we have political ads trying to change our political views (good luck with that). We have fast food chains and other manufacturers taking sides on Sexual rights. (That will go over well) and all of them using religious values as the motivator. (Cause it worked so well throughout history).
Many state that we are in the information age. It’s more like we are in the ignorant age. We have more information available but it has only fueled us to become more ignorant. Since information is so readily available, we have become a society that makes shit up first then goes out to find crap to support our bullshit.
Guess all that Geometry, Debate and History crap I took in High School was all for not. I thought the process was to create a theory, prove the theory and then it could be supported as fact. A right angle is not a right angle unless you could prove it. Voter Fraud is not a problem unless you can prove it, unchecked power has tyrannical results proved multitudes of historical events could this be applied to the financial crisis?
This is my point. Instead of trying to use the big three to convince us that your side of the fence has much greener, tastier grass, maybe do a little more facts and research and a little less “Cause God said so”, “Because it is the Conservative/Liberal point of view”, and “cause we deserve equal rights for Men/Women”.
Currently there is advantages and disadvantages on both sides of every argument. Politically the Democrats are pushing for more help for the poor and those with little voice in these current political times. As time progresses, and has the media has shown us, “money talks”. Without money, we are slowly being silenced.
Conversely, the conservatives are trying to defend traditional values and a view that the future has a government overlord to rule over us all. That their way of life is under attack and they are working to pool all their resources to fight the potential tyranny.
In regards to religion, the Christians are feeling persecuted that when they speak out in favor of their beliefs that they are being silenced. To some, that their way of life is under attack.
Conversely here, the other religions that are faced with a Christian church in every town and almost on every street corner, with laws and lawmakers looking at the moral validity of potential laws only from a Christian point of view and more and more of their point of view actually being suppressed to make room for “Christian views”. A feeling that if you are not Christian, you don’t really count.
Finally,
If you are gay, well you are just screwed to start with. If you are a woman, you don’t have equal pay, equal access to jobs and face the fear of sexual harassment at the workplace at a constant.
For those against gay rights, they are feeling forced to accept a lifestyle that they find disgusting and immoral. They are being forced to change their lives and beliefs to conform to a group of people they refuse to associate with. As for men, they are seeing more and more jobs taken away to be given to less qualified individuals for the sake of equality. They are now living in a world where 40% of women are the major breadwinners in the family, have a higher rate of education and have to live in constant fear of being labeled a sexist, rapist or sexual harasser and being guilty until proven innocent in this culture climate. Which they still are presumed guilty after the fact because “well obviously he did something to make him a target”. Plus, now they are being judged as less suitable mate by the opposite sex because they don’t have job, a better education and have a solid financial statement.
And with all that I wrote, it is a really good chance that someone will be offended by one or more of those statements.
Why? Because this is the big 3. We all sit with a definite point of view on all of these things and we are all pretty unwilling to budge off of these positions.
This is why I identified these things a long time ago and I started getting these out of the way when dating someone right away. I am a big supporter of not wasting people’s time. Mine or the other person’s. So usually on the first or second date I get these things out in the beginning about myself. If we cannot come to terms on these in the beginning, the rest would probably be a huge waste of time.
The upside:
The interesting thing is that slowly it is starting to show how the “little guy” as it were can exert power in the modern age. We are starting to learn that yes, money talks. But consumerism shouts louder than any fat cat rich guy ever could. In the 80’s and 90’s it was special interest groups that shaped the political landscape. And they are still trying to keep a grapple hold of that power. Much like the record industry is failing to keep control of the music industry. Now, corporations are taking the role that special interest groups once held. And they are tearing it away from the interest groups. It sounds bad, and it is, but it does have an upside. It’s much easier for the populace of America to stop or start buying a product depending on the company’s “Political View” than it is to donate or not donate to a special interest group. One would think that the rich would have much more control over Corporations than special interest groups but the reality is quite the contrary.
Corporations will always be a slave to the supply / demand curve. It doesn’t matter how rich you are, if your company can’t sell a product, it can’t survive. That is business 101. It was about 10 years ago that businesses started to realize the impact that their company philosophy and way they do business has an impact on what they sell. Not just what they sell. The downside of a free market is that the other guy makes a product just as good as yours so you need to bring something else to the table.
Consumers wield way more power in this environment. We are not just talking about boycotting a product. Most businesses are already prepared for a short term reduction in sales. What they cannot deal with, is answering to their shareholders when consumers move to their competitor’s product. Market share is money, money is power and consumers dictate market share.
The thing that history has taught us which we are having a hard time learning but are slowly coming around to is that fighting the system does not work. Manipulating the system is suspect, but utilizing the system as intended contrary to those that thought they had manipulated the system to their advantage is the key.
The most obvious and current example of this is the whole Chic-Fil-a fiasco. We know that the anti-gay supporters have giving them the best sales they had one day. But what will be interesting is the long term affect. Yes, you can make a large amount of money when a bunch of people partake of your food one day. But what about the long term? As more and more people move to the competitors, what will happen to that business? Time will tell.
Insurance companies. Current reports state that even though many of the car insurance companies have been using delightful characters in their insurance ads, consumers have not been budging from their current providers. So an article stated they they are changing their advertising campaigns to something more “touchy feely” but more to the point, they are going to have to bit the bullet and provide more costumer service and cheaper rates.
Banking, Chase Bank’s President Jamie Diamond had stated that they company, due to government restrictions on monopolies, can no longer expand their banking presence. So what are they doing? Focusing on customer service and attempting to get more customers. (I know, what a radical idea). And if you walked into a Chase Bank lately (and I really suggest you should) it’s almost creepy how much customer service is going on.
Sidenote: There was so much customer service going on the last time I walked inside to make a deposit, I thought the bank manager was going to blow me while I was waiting in line. True Story…
From the political spectrum, Rominy is having a hard time gaining any ground because he is attempting to romance the opposition to his side. I think his political strategists shouldn’t have been so hung over when they were taking their political history classes.
Rarely if ever has this worked. The first strategy that has to be put into play with a sitting president is to prove (not state, prove) that people are worse off than they were 4 years ago. Not the same, not better but worse. It has been proven that people will not change sides unless they are proven worse off than they were 4 years ago. At best, so far, they have only been able to prove that people are no better. This does not quite cut it. And going after welfare really is more of a throat cutting approach. Those in favor of it already are voting Republican. Their ads to solidify their side is only showing weakness in their own resolve.
Secondly, go after the independents. As stated before, generally speaking, the 80/20 rule is in affect. 80% are locked into a political position (40% to one side, 40% to the other) but the 20% is always the swing. This is the group that make or break elections. They area also referred to as moderates. They are a fickle bunch that is for sure. But what gets them on your side is to have moderate and effective change. Declaring defiant Conservative or Liberal ideas turns them off. They look for compromise and effective solutions. Plus, you can’t bullshit them. A candidate must produce specific, detailed plans on how to execute a change that would be to their benefit or the benefit of the greater good. Attack ads don’t work with these individuals and were one of the many reasons President Obama won last election.
Currently, the Romney Campaign has only been serving to solidify the President for another term.
As someone who has watched American Politics like a spectator sport, I can tell you this has been interesting.
I will tell you this based on what I have seen and this is my early prediction for this year’s election:
Unless some significant change takes place in the positive for the outlook of the financial situation in the US over the next 2 months, the Republican party is going to throw the election in a way that is not very obvious but will attempt to keep all the attention on the presidential election. Yet the Democrats will lose control of the Senate. This will give the Republicans unilateral control of the actual power in Federal Government. This will completely choke the control of the President giving Republicans the ability to move forward with their agenda virtually unfettered. This will then lead to the 2016 campaign where open Presidential Race (since President Obama will not be able to run again) will give way to the Republican Canidate (most likely Rudy Giuliani).
Sorry Karl Rove if I gave anything away.
So it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
For this blog I am done, Peace!