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| In my top 5 bands of all time. LP is good too. |
As a professional journalist (please, feel free to hold that against me especially if you use Reba McEntire to do it) I get press releases. Boy, do I get press releases.
The Second Amendment Foundation is one of those groups that periodically jumps off the deep end and starts swimming down. SAF was founded because the members felt the National Rifle Association (NRA) was waffling too much and giving into to politicians on important issues. In what won't be a huge surprise to you, I support the NRA and SAF.
Now crost my desk comes a SAF press release. "World-Wide Riots Coming In 2013! " screams the headline. "ALERT: Will you be able to protect your family when riots and anarchy explode?"
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In case you are not presently panicking, the PR goes on to say "If we don't reduce food costs by 2013 there will be world-wide unrest. Marco Lagi and a group of researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) in Massachusetts say when food prices reach above a certain margin the world will erupt into anarchy. NECSI is an organization of scientists who use mathematics, phsyics and computer science to solve social problems." Typo on the word "physics" is theirs. Which should tell you a lot about the people who put this PR out.
Panicked yet?
M'kay. Here's more: "Rising food prices have been the trigger for nearly every political revolution in history and it was the cause of the revolutions in France, Russia and China. NECSI reports, 'Social unrest may reflect a variety of factors such as poverty, unemployment, and social injustice.'
"Any society is three meals away from anarchy." [emphasis theirs.]
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Dunno what history books SAF is reading, but rising food prices are not the "trigger for nearly every political revolution" in history. The trigger for nearly every political revolution in history is some people getting tired of the way things are being run and they decide to try their hand at running show after taking the current leaders for a long walk off a short pier.
The PR from SAF is not about why it's important to stock up on food. Of course not. The following phrase appears in bold, underlined italics and highlighted in yellow:
URGENT ACTION NEEDED - Stop The Gun Grabbers & Sign The Gun Rights Emergency Response! [emphasis theirs]
The press release from SAF, typos, misguided thoughts and downright mistakes about history are all an effort to separate you from your money. Yep.
Rather than rely on solid facts, sound reasoning and logic, SAF is appealing on a far more gut-based level. Fear.
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Why? Cause it's easier. People are easily swayed by hitting their emotions. SAF knows that. If you hit someone's heart, you can tap their wallet much easier.
Appealing to the rational mind is far far far more difficult, not only because so many people lack the ability to be rational. It's more difficult because being rational requires mental effort.
It's much easier to be stupid.
One emotion-laden statement may take 30 seconds to spew out. An intelligent rebuttal takes considerably longer. The majority of people aren't willing to sit through the necessary explanation. They'd rather take another gut shot.
While I agree with much of what SAF says in the press release, it's very tone annoys me to no end. Which of itself is a gut reaction, just not the kind SAF was hoping for.
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Worshiping at the altar of emotion, like SAF is doing and like so many others do (Reboobicans, Damnocrats and Tea Baggers come to mind) does not edify. Far worse, it inures. What once would guarantee an expected reaction now generates a yawn.
Worse yet, it conditions the audience to eschew cogitation.
And that is how people are truly and well controlled.
The only quote I can come up with involving food and revolution is "Let them eat cake" and there is no evidence to prove she actually said that. Political upheaval and reform are based on dozens of different conditions ranging from personal freedoms to money. I am sure food is in there somewhere, but like my brother here, I doubt it has ever been a major factor in the majority of upheavals.
ReplyDeleteI suspect revolutions are more about groupthink than any one or more actual catalysts. One cow in the herd starts to run, and guess what, they'll just about all bust a gut to head in that direction. If you looked out your window and saw all your neighbors running helter-skelter to pack up the SUV and haul, you're probably not going to pause for a long conversation, and neither are they. Eschew cogitation indeed; politicians rely on it, methinks, and I hope we're growing out of it these days.
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