I've not paid much attention to the Republican debates. My research is done and I already know who's getting my vote. Why watch talking points and snarky one-liners when the candidates' records should speak for themselves? It only encourages my bent toward cynicism. Politics should stem from principles and good ideas, and there's just far too little of that left.
Rick Perry's campaign ad left me feeling a touch patronized. Although it's exactly a sign of the times. Want people to vote? Donate money? Give a darn? Then you need to find the perfect balance of edgy camera angles, hipster filters, evocative music, and film speed in double-time followed immediately by a slow motion zoom of something depressing.
And I'm not saying there's only one guilty party - can you imagine distilling everything you believe to be right, noble, true and just into the single phrase of 'Change we can believe in'? Are millions able to mindlessly chant and slap on matching bumper stickers? Yes. Was it all too easy to never actually stop and consider what exactly any of that meant? Again, yes.
It brought 2 things to my mind: Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad and the Soviet Russia Political Art exhibit currently at Chicago Booth. One hilariously satirizes our country's guilt in putting sentimentality over reason. The other, the power of propaganda.
Gloom and doom aside, the video would make one helluva movie trailer.
B
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