House of Eratosthenes

First impressions: I’m probably not that good at stepping into the shoes of the squishy, moderate, “casually-informed” voter, but this strikes me as very well done.

Were I advising them about it, I’d say take those few moments at 3:05+ or so, about how awful and evil those Republicans are, and strip them out. The rest of the video makes for a powerful, compelling, positive message, and these 30 seconds don’t fit in with it. The “and still, He persevered” is particularly silly; can’t stick to ideas being sold, they have to keep veering off into talking up the personality who is selling them to us. So it’s back to the Holy Healer nonsense from four years ago.

I’m convinced this would be even more saleable if that were left on the cutting room floor. Along with the bin Laden thing, too, probably. Surely someone has suggested it. But those who put the clip together — who clearly know what they’re doing — chose to leave that all in. Possible explanations: Their talents come from keeping the right-brain engaged in their work, essentially gratifying themselves almost on a hormonal level, with every second of footage produced. And, darn it, it felt so good to take a few swipes at the Republicans. Or…they have research that says the electorate, at least the squishy middle of the electorate that these kinds of media are intended to reach, will tolerate some messaging of the form “Our side is so much better than that other side.” At least, from the liberals they will.

Medicators medicate. It’s what they do. That’s why their situation is ever-constant: We’ve all been living through some interminable period of darkness, with the greedy selfish one percent dominating and oppressing everybody, at least, everybody who ought to matter. But the clock is stuck at almost-dawn, with the sun just about to peak over the hills in the East, and when it’s daylight the locks on the treasury will be shattered and the stolen fortunes will spill out in the streets and our champion will tell everyone to grab all they can, and the widows will be sustained and the babies will be fed and the awful oppressive meanie people will have big frowns on their faces as they realize how much they suck, and…and…and…we’re always right there, at the very last moments of the long dark night. Keep watching the hills in the East.

So they don’t deal with time very well because, as we’ve seen, they haven’t got an answer for “Okay now it’s daylight and you’re in charge, what ya gonna do?” That is where this video breaks down. Of necessity, and by design, it is tailor-made for people who do not make use of their long-term memory faculties, at least, not with comprehending the phenomena of American politics. On November 5, 2008, the Medicator class got their dawn. And on 1/20/09 their Replacement Jesus was ensconced onto the throne. Therefore, to those who pay attention to history even at just a cursory level, it’s a bit silly to be playing the “last few minutes of the long cold dark night” thing in 2012.

Now, how would a Republican sway a squishy-moderate who’s all ready to re-elect America’s First Holy President as a result of watching this powerful video? If the job were left up to me, I would jump to 2:09 and make the case there. Reform…reform…reform…cheaper…can’t deny…guaranteed…more affordable…all sounds good, but you know what’s really being talked about? Force, force, force, force, force, force, force. The government big enough to give you everything you want, as they say, is big enough to take away all you have. And this government makes nothing cheaper. It subsidizes and pays for absolutely nothing. It acquires things, often on behalf of others whose votes are being sought, by confiscating money from other people…forcibly…and, when that is not sufficient to pay the tab, it borrows in the name of those who are not yet born, but will be, with thousands of dollars of debt over each newborn head. More force.

That’s why the video is effective. It succeeds in appealing to the right half of the brain, reaching out to the Medicators on their primitive-instinct pleasure-center level, and deftly sidesteps the darker ruminations about a fiat economy.

The one-word mantra of “Forward,” on the other hand, is a complete disaster (hat tip to The Other McCain).

The Obama campaign apparently didn’t look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, “Forward” — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism.

Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name “Forward!” or its foreign cognates. Wikipedia has an entire section called “Forward (generic name of socialist publications).”

“The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications,” the online encyclopedia explains.

The slogan “Forward!” reflected the conviction of European Marxists and radicals that their movements reflected the march of history, which would move forward past capitalism and into socialism and communism.

The Obama campaign released its new campaign slogan Monday in a 7-minute video. The title card has simply the word “Forward” with the “O” having the familiar Obama logo from 2008. It will be played at rallies this weekend that mark the Obama re-election campaign’s official beginning.

There have been at least two radical-left publications named “Vorwaerts” (the German word for “Forward”). One was the daily newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Germany whose writers included Friedrich Engels and Leon Trotsky. It still publishes as the organ of Germany’s SDP, though that party has changed considerably since World War II. Another was the 1844 biweekly reader of the Communist League. Karl Marx, Engels and Mikhail Bakunin are among the names associated with that publication.

East Germany named its Army soccer club ASK Vorwaerts Berlin (later FC Vorwaerts Frankfort).

Vladimir Lenin founded the publication “Vpered” (the Russian word for “forward”) in 1905. Soviet propaganda film-maker Dziga Vertov made a documentary whose title is sometimes translated as “Forward, Soviet” (though also and more literally as “Stride, Soviet”).

Conservative critics of the Obama administration have noted numerous ties to radicalism and socialists throughout Mr. Obama’s history, from his first political campaign being launched from the living room of two former Weather Underground members, to appointing as green jobs czar Van Jones, a self-described communist.

The European Marxists like the word because it lives within those last-few-moments-of-the-long-dark-night. You don’t motivate people to join your cause with “Yay, we’re already there.” So the carrot is constantly two or three inches in front of the donkey’s nose. Forward!

This is awful for the Obama team, because every propaganda poster from Europe’s many disastrous twentieth-century experiments, is a free iconic campaign gift to the Republicans, and imagery is powerful. Now, whether they’re smart enough to use it, is another thing. But the fact remains, the word has some very dark connections and they’re not coincidental. It’s a package deal: The state plays a game of “Robin Hood and the Sherrif of Nottingham are one and the same,” keeping the ignorant masses in a state of perpetual bloodthirsty euphoria by pretending to loot itself. More laws, more taxes, more social programs, more force, less freedom, a fiat economy, and, interestingly, everlasting hostility against the Jews always seems to be inextricably woven into the design, either by intent or by consequence, but it’s always there.

On a philosophical level, where the conservatives can go from here — and there is a lot of time to do this — is to attack this lock-busting sunrise moment, when the walls of the coffers are shattered and the treasure spills out in the streets and the starving widows and orphans scoop it up. That seems like “economic justice” until you think on it awhile; right off the bat, there are two big problems with it. One, the starving widows and orphans who are even worse off, and don’t happen to be anywhere near the place where the coins are hitting the pavement, so their plight persists; two, the people who happen to be close by and are in a position to grab what they can when the bolshevik champion yells “Go!,” who were already doing rather well. These two problems point to the plain fact that this isn’t an equalization of living standard at all, and has nothing to do with any kind of justice, it’s just theft.

The sunrise moment ends up being nothing more than an exchange of a free-trade, merit-based system that produces inequalities, for another one that is corrupt, decree-driven, essentially random, and still produces inequalities. And, of course, there’s no plan for what happens after the sunrise. Somewhere an enemy has to be defined to keep the masses all riled up, so the people in charge start purifying their own ranks. Revolutionaries do have a habit of executing their own for not being revolutionary enough.

In fact, that inspires a rather interesting and poignant question. What happened to the 2008 theme of unifying us and bringing us all together? Did that just turn out to be too self-satirical, too awkward, too unworkable, invited too much ridicule maybe? Just not going to try to pretend anymore?

Update: Via Gerard: Once again, you knew it was coming…

Mr. McCain is being kind to His Forwardness when he says the must not have looked backwards about their slogan. I seem to recall He hath Himself spake: “We’ve already tried capitalism.” These are, as you note, the Marxists we’ve been waiting for; since that makes a slogan even the Squishy Marshmallow voting bloc might resist, they go with their own “code word” – I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it fits – they harken back to the collectivist propaganda they remember best. Mental comfort food. They’re trying to soothe themselves as much as persuade others, in much the manner of a scared cat purring to calm down.

The second thing about the slogan is that it betrays the “free to act” mentality His Eminence spake of to Medvedev. Why pretend anymore? They will be beyond voter correction if they win this November. (The Congress may well go 75% GOP in 2014 if that happens, but they won’t care, they’ll have gotten theirs.) This spectacular narcissism and ego may just be enough to save us from ourselves. They will keep letting slip those bursts of impatience and contempt towards the voters who are resisting their obvious greatness, they will not bother to hide who they are and what they plan, and enough squishes might gum up their own works for them.
- nightfly | 05/01/2012 @ 07:16
[…] analyzes “Forward” so you, or more importantly I, don’t have to. I’m inclined to take it for granted that […]
- The Battle For Hari Seldon « Rhymes With Cars & Girls | 05/01/2012 @ 08:18
Honestly, fellas, I dunno…. This presupposes a lot of historical literacy on the part of the very same moron voters who fell for “There’s just something about Him!” back in 2008. (When we pointed out that some variation of this has been one of the chief propaganda claims of every tinpot despot in the modern era, they called us racists… and then congratulated themselves on their superior virtue by voting for Princess Three Putt).

[It also presupposes a lot of historical awareness on the part of the GOP, which may be an even bigger stretch — the Donks may have coined it, but the Pubs’ reputation as “the stupid party” is richly, richly deserved].

Problem is, Americans like progress. Moving westward, space-ward, forward is part of our national myth. This is why our leftists call themselves Progressives — “utopians,” “socialists,” “syndicalists,” or “Marxists” would all be far more accurate, but they over-emphasize the collective nature of what our left wants to achieve. To the low-info voter, “Progressivism” even seems kinda individualistic (we can all progress individually towards whatever our individual goals are; the government is just here to help).

More to the point, there’s a sizable minority of people who are, for lack of a better term, “joiners.” They’re never happier than when they’re part of some group identity; the define themselves, as individuals, via their group memberships. Again, cf. the Proggies — if I meet a SWPL-looking person in my neighborhood and he/she doesn’t find an excuse to blurt “as a liberal, I feel” within the first ten minutes of our conversation, I assume I’ve found a fellow member of La Resistance. (I don’t think I’ve ever heard a conservative use that particular turn of phrase in everyday conversation, come to think of it). “Forward” appeals directly to those people.
- Severian | 05/01/2012 @ 08:27
Oh, hey: Don’t forget it’s May Day! Be sure to inform on a family member, torture a dissident, shoot a kulak, and starve somebody to death in a forced-labor camp to celebrate the glorious achievements of international socialism!
- Severian | 05/01/2012 @ 09:23
Wow – looking at that list of accomplishments, why does He even need a second term?

That sure is some creative math he’s using.
- Daniel | 05/01/2012 @ 20:22

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“Forward”Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

“Forward”
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012