Glenn Beck's Art - Obama Bobblehead in Pee-Pee


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DDL,

Thanks for the explication of the Glenn stuff. Demonstrating that you are a neanderthal is great populist politics. I did not realize that he agreed with Jonathan about art and my respect for him has again increased.

I am more than excited to welcome you here. It is always nice to meet a newcomer who is not a complete head case. Also, you live in New Orleans, the only American city I ever wished to visit (and I dislike jazz).

The usual Welcome Wagonner is Adam, but he is not around, I guess he has locked himself in the dungeon again. If I've told him once, I've told him a thousand times...cellar key on the left.. the man just does not listen.

..Where was I ? Ohyeah, so maybe I am not doing the most polished job as greeter, but nice to meet you.

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I have given this a few days and here is my observation.

There is a war going on that delivers messages into the unconscious of people. But it's not a war that is visible as war. It is visible as propaganda, publicity stunts, celebrity statements, marketing and communication things like that. The bullets are called memes and the bombs are called stories.

A guy named Jonah Sachs calls this the "story wars," which, incidentally is the title of his book.

I believe Glenn is a major player on this field and the Obabblehead in Urine stunt was a major offensive.

Notice that before he aired his incursion into the artist's studio, there was a rash of media attention to those who compared Obama to a deity. It just wouldn't stop and more and more people were joining in.

After Glenn pulled his stunt, that particular storyline seems to have disappeared. Instead of people acting as if Obama is the Second Coming of Christ, they suddenly found the media was talking about Obama...

er...

not burned in effigy, but pee-pickled in effigy. In a mason jar at that. All with a tie-in to famous artists who have done similar to actual religious figures.

Notice how no one is saying "Obama, Our Lord and Savior" or painting Obama as a religious icon and that sort of thing anymore. Well, maybe some are doing that stuff, but the media sure as hell ain't reporting it.

Score one big-time for Glenn in the story wars.

Now his body fluids story can fade away into well-deserved oblivion, that is until the media wants to promote hailing and worshiping a progressive leader as some kind of God once more. In that case, the story is right there in the wings, just waiting to be hauled out again...

... ahhhhmmm...

... (I'm trying... believe me... I'm trying...)

... (can't... seem... to... resist...)

... grmphhh...

... TO MAKE A MEDIA SPLASH!

:)

(Sorry. That was simply bigger than me... :) )

Michael

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I have given this a few days and here is my observation.

There is a war going on that delivers messages into the unconscious of people. But it's not a war that is visible as war. It is visible as propaganda, publicity stunts, celebrity statements, marketing and communication things like that. The bullets are called memes and the bombs are called stories.

A guy named Jonah Sachs calls this the "story wars," which, incidentally is the title of his book.

I believe Glenn is a major player on this field and the Obabblehead in Urine stunt was a major offensive.

It was offensive all right.

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I want to add to my last post above and give it some teeth in terms of a more technical explanation. After all, this is a philosophy forum.


The story Glenn provides is a war on a metaphor. The progressives were linking the image of Obama to Godliness. Glenn linked it to urine. (And he peppered it with progressive hypocrisy by using their own image device, i.e., human waste, but that's another discussion.)

Why would either of them do that?

In Metaphors We Live By (which I have only started--just a few chapter so far), George Lakoff and Mark Johnson say this on p. 5:

The essence of metaphor is understanding one kind of thing in terms of another.


In other words, the progressives were trying to get us to "understand" the image of Obama in terms of religious worship. This doesn't mean we were to worship Obama. It just means that some of the ideas and feelings that come with worship were to be embedded into the image of Obama and, hopefully (for them), spread throughout the culture.

Lakoff and Johnson say how this works when they talk about what they call a "metaphorical concept" (quote from p. 10):

In allowing us to focus on one aspect of a concept... a metaphorical concept can keep us from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with the metaphor.


In other words, a "metaphorical concept" can become an excellent propaganda tool to spread what is called a "stolen concept" in Objectivism.

If you wonder how people can possibly believe a stolen concept, even when it is pointed out to them, look at the metaphors they use.

Look at social justice for example. How can anyone take this concept seriously when some individuals are to be sacrificed to others by definition? If you divorce the concept "society" from the "individuals" who make it up, society obviously does not mean everybody. You can then have justice for some without needing it for all. But that's not the way progressives use the term "society." So how is this supposed to work?

Enter metaphor. I see a lot of terms relating to an "underdog in a war" concept when progressives talk about social justice. They use terms like "struggle," "overcome," "loss of freedom," "oppressed," "warrior," "beaten down," "rise up," "take back power," and so forth. They also use a "broker" concept as a metaphor with terms like "distribution," "equal conditions," "social contract" (with emphasis on the "contract"), "fair share," and things like that.

When you are focused on (1) being at war, and (2) acting as a broker to allot goods and services to people (in a "fair" way, of course, becaue "social justice" is "justice" after all), you can easily forget all about the individual as a conceptual fundament. Thus, you can have an "equal society" where certain individuals exist to serve others and call that a valid concept... that is, so long as no one talks about it.

Focus, baby, focus on the metaphorical concept, not the congitive one.

I just now came up with this connection, but I'm willing to bet that metaphorical framing is the primary delivery mechanism for injecting and maintaining stolen concepts in the culture. And one of the deadliest sweet poisons that keep sanction of the victim in place.

Rand was correct that the issue is values and morality. But I argue that it is more. It is how morality and values are framed with unrelated concepts--usually to allow bullies and busybodies to sink their grubby claws into a fat herd of prime social livestock (which means you) that they can feed on.

To get back to Glenn, he merely took one metaphorical concept that was gaining a lot of traction and lampooned it with another. The sheer outrageousness of the image in the lampoon allied to his media reach gave it the power to bury the Obama as God metaphor.

In a rather offbeat way, Glenn reminded us that morality is far more serious than any one politician and kept conceptual purity on this point in the mainstream. Obama is a human being, just like you and me, and he is subject to the same moral considerations you and I are. Obama is not above morality. Which means he is not above the law--especially not as a USA government official. No siree...

No thieves allowed in this concept...

Michael

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Yes, I am a girl! How nice to see someone so excited about it. I wish my last date had shown such enthusiasm.

Hmm, maybe you should stop dating blind guys?

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