"The New York Times says undecided voters want more 'fine print' details.
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Philip Cardellareplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy I've also noticed that these people do exist and I don't get why. I mean, after the debate, some rural family in, I think, West Virginia, was like, "Well she didn't give enough details on how she was going to help us."
WTAH? Is she supposed to be like, "and now I turn to my good friends Jeb and Virginia Smith on 222 Main Street, Some Place, West Virginia to address your worries about your lawn not getting mowed on time by your lawn care people."?
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SoGeneris for Harris/Walzreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy This just makes me laugh. Any time I’ve ever seen “undecided” voters interviewed, there is no consistency between them at all and they generally seem to be looking for imaginary candidates who aren’t running.
Particularly in the age of Trump, nobody is unaware of what they’re voting for if they vote for him. That, at least, he does well.
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Wallyapplebee 🌈 ☀️🌵replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy the nyt guy was on MSNBC this morning, he said they’ve been following this same group of undecided voters for some years now - what? They’ve been undecided for years? Gee, do you think maybe it’s them?
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Wallyapplebee 🌈 ☀️🌵 last edited by
@Wallyapplebee Interesting, isn't it, how they can conjure those folks up at the drop of a hat, election cycle after election cycle? And give them sacrosanct status as the make-or-break voting group — when all indicators are that some voters are simply low-information voters, badly educated, intellectually curious, and should not be running the whole show of American democracy.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to SoGeneris for Harris/Walz last edited by
@SoGeneris I couldn't agree more. I've also noticed, election after election, that a goodly number of them are pretend "independents" and "undecided" playing games with the media, when they're actually right-wing Republicans.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Philip Cardella last edited by
@philip_cardella Yes, they definitely exist. They seem to me typically (and I don't want to stereotype, so I use that qualifying word) to be low-information, apathetic, minimally educated voters. Why a group of voters like that should be regarded as the kingmakers of American democracy election cycle after election cycle is baffling to me.
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ShoebillStork916replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @philip_cardella it is possible that that attitude really means that the voter doesn't understand. "not enough information" is code to disguise the voter's realization that he/she does not understand the topic nor the answer. And that is why the likability of the politician or the trust the voter has in the politician/party matters so very much: many, many voters do not have the ability to decide the issue directly so have to rely on the politicians instead. But they don't have the
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to ShoebillStork916 last edited by
@Shoebill @philip_cardella If likability is a key factor, then it would seem information and policies aren't what these undecided voters are really after at all.
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Philip Cardellareplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @Shoebill pretty much. At the end of the day fascism works because it's so damn lazy.
A key component of fascisms (which can be present in other authoritarian governments but is pretty much always present in fascism) is spectacle. The entertainment factor is huge. There's a whole subgenre of books on it.
And I'm trying to find an example and not coming up with it. Doh. Maybe tomorrow. Lol. But yeah, Mussolini, Hitler and Tojo practically tried to one up each other with it.
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Philip Cardellareplied to Philip Cardella last edited by
@wdlindsy @Shoebill so you get a guy who wins power in the United States who literally models his approach on a form of entertainment centered on violence and showmanship.
Here's one on the WWE stuff but I think someone else wrote a better piece. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/13/business/vince-mcmahon-wwe-netflix-wrestling/index.html
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Philip Cardella last edited by
@philip_cardella @Shoebill Yes, it becomes more and more clear to me that the orange showman likes to think he's executing WWE moves and is infatuated with that dumber than dumb testosterone-laden entertainment world. I look forward to reading the article!
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Philip Cardella last edited by
@philip_cardella @Shoebill That's a great analysis of fascism. Yes, it knows how to address the laziest, most easily accessible, lizard-brain instincts of people and manipulate them.