Propaganda Is the Tool of Those Incapable of Logical Persuasion

I did not want to say anything about the tragedy that recently unfolded in Tucson, AZ; what hasn't already been said elsewhere by legions of pundits and commentators both fair and unfair, on both sides of the aisle? Bottom line, the shooting was the work of one man, a very sick and twisted loser working on his own peculiar agenda and unbeholden to any form of human normalcy or ideology. That we are now engaged in a days-old debate over the use of the term "blood libel" only renders the sad scene even more of a farce.

No, instead I'd like to note the continuing descension of American politics into the realm of vapid propaganda that has dovetailed with the rise of this current administration. It started with Barack Obama's coronation as Supreme Overlord of the Democrat Party in 2008, the modern-day Caesar speaking to the plebeians in a Coliseum filled with ornate faux-marble columns. Then came the posters of "Hope," which would have fit in perfectly on any otherwise barren brick wall in the Soviet Union in 1960. Heck, the President has his own logo. And now, building on his former Chief of Staff's infamous declaration to "never let a crisis go to waste," this past week's service for the victims in Tucson came complete with its own memorial slogan and tee-shirt.

It's sickening to me how pathetic and dumb we (at least, 52% of "we") must be to soak this crap in. Marketing and propaganda are the tools of a brand that cannot stand on the pure merits of its primary product alone. I say this as a professional marketer. Can you imagine George W. Bush wearing a special commemorative polo shirt while standing on the rubble pile after 9/11? Or Ronald Reagan hawking "Tear Down This Wall" posters? What about FDR supporters passing out "We Have Nothing to Fear" pins? "Gettysburg 1863?"

It's not all on the President, as he cannot single-handedly oversee the messaging of millions of supporters across the country. But that doesn't also mean that it doesn't still feel highly forced and manufactured, a means of controlling people and telling them it's OK to vote for Big Government and trillion-dollar debts because it makes them feel good. Humans will always be flawed, irrational animals at heart, but shouldn't our national discourse be a little more ... sophisticated? Life is more than just another meme.